You Belong to Me
by feralmxstyque
Summary: Naruto is trying to look for his purpose within the heart of the man who turned his back on him just to restore his clan...one sided SasuSaku...Yaoi Warning as in I mean total SasuNaru!Mature rating this time.Restored and shall be continued!
1. I'm Still Here

**Notes:** This is a yaoi fic, may I warn you first and foremost. There is still time to click that back button. But if you think you can handle this then proceed, just words of caution—**READ AT YOUR OWN RISK! **Please do review! It serves as encouragement for me to write more despite my hectic schedule! Please do review or else I'll strangle yah all to death! I'm not kidding! ",

_I don't want to be beneath shame's cloak_

_I want to be saved from the norms of life_

_I want to believe I am not alone_

_I want to be seen, to be accepted_

_And you are the only one who did_

_You saved me, saw me, accepted me_

_Even loved me…_

_But it wasn't meant to be_

_We weren't meant to be_

_So you desired to run away from here_

_Yet your world can never be mine_

_You turned your back on me_

_To face a future_

_To sire a new hope_

_Without me._

_--_

_--_

_--_

_But I have been unable to let you go._

_Somehow._

_--_

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**You Belong To Me**

(SasuNaru)

**By feralmxstyque**

_Remember how we used to say_

_I'll be the one to run away _

_But I'm still here_

_-Vertical Horizon-_

**Chapter One: I'm Still Here**

_You missed._

The melody had long ceased playing but he couldn't tear off his eyes on the one playing the flute. He looked angelic, almost pure, with his midnight-colored hair, cold, dark eyes and enigmatic smile. The boy drew out a long breath and bowed, his soft, silky hair dancing with his every movements. And then his eyes rolled towards the audience and found, among them, a certain blond who had his eyes fixed upon the ethereal beauty upon him. The boy gave him an unmistakable frown, thinking he would never let himself lay a finger upon such lewdness, such drastic abomination God has ever had the chance created.

And from that moment on, the blond knew he could never have the chance to caress those porcelain flesh and kiss those wanting lips, because from that very moment on, fate had obliterated all the possibility that lies in almost all the impossible. Because he knew they never will and can never be together.

_It feels so cold when it rains_

_When it pours from the heaven like tears of pearl_

_That had broken free from my grasp._

_The rain had been a witness when I first demanded a kiss._

_But I also cried underneath it._--

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"_Casualties?" the strength of the feminine voice was impossible to read. It resounded in Naruto's subconscious like water cascading down on his closed palm. The gondaime had taken of her cape and placed it over the dobe's lithe body, offering him the warmth he was so often denied of._

"_T-There are…Tsunade-sama." The chuunin announced, her voice shaking, almost ceasing to a silence as it falters. _

"_Who?"_

_The said chuunin didn't say anything more, owing to the fact that she couldn't more than she doesn't want to, but began to sob bitterly instead. Naruto's barely whimsical, deteriorating consciousness shattered into millions of innocent pieces that pierced through his heart. Tsunade-sama and he, himself know what the pungent weeping of the kunoichi, Yamanaka, Ino, herself, means._

_Sakura-chan…and the Uchiha…**his** precious Uchiha_

_**Is gone.**_

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Birds flew from their nest and leaves shook in the middle of summer as the thunderous screams roused the distance proximal to the gruesome event. It was then, as the masked Shinobi's feet touched the ground when blood started to rain on him, and the screams had finally echoed its last breath. The Nin laughed. Almost. And his voice had been guttural—as if every word is drawn from the gasp of a man who had so long emanated the curse of the Dark Devil himself.

He re-sheathed the blood splattered piece of long, prevailing steel and took off his solemn mask of imperfection. Azure eyes looked up to the sky, as the queen itself looked down upon her child, basking the copper-gold colored skin upon the most awesome face in all of Konoha. His hair had taken up the wild colors of stunning yellow and had delicately framed a demigod's face in strength of fatal sensuality that lures even the most stoic upon the crowd. There were several scar marks on his face, but it did nothing to lessen the features of the beautiful boy, instead, it heightened his appearance to a savage angel. He continued looking up, seemingly asking the queen of the sky to answer the questions that reigned his thoughts ever since the gondaime broke the news to him. Emotions he had buried deep within him for what seemed like eons were brought back to life, haunting him once again, clashing swords with the barrier he had created to protect himself from any more pain. It was unearthed so easily by such simple words—words he knew that would disturb him if not proven completely. Words that he knew should have never been spoken amidst the crowd of those who had suffered the same way he had.

"_**He's alive."**_

That's what the infamous Tsunade-sama had uttered, words that echoed an endless questions in Naruto's mind.

"He's alive." The kitsune repeated as he drew his sight down after the queen refused to answer his inquiries. Hurt were etched upon his cerulean eyes, but he tried to hide the glimmer that betrays it. For seven years, he had thought **he** was dead, long buried and had turned to ashes. But in the pallid moment of his desperation he finally found out that he had survived, that he is somewhere out there, beneath the same sky in which he, Naruto, is blanketed upon.

Queries reverberated into his ears, crushing the nearly-fallen entity that supplies him his nonchalance. But among these questions is something that mocked even the pain and sorrow he had felt for such everlasting moment of grief. Something, not even his defence mechanism, his denial could breach. Question that speaks of the reality Naruto had known for so long but had tried so bitterly to oppose.

_If Sasuke really i**s** alive—then why hasn't he come back home?_

Everything deteriorates—crumbles to pieces—torn apart by the savagery of this God-abandoned world. The faces on the mountain, no matter how strong the people they signify were, will somehow succumb to an end—because the strange fact of this life is that—everything ends.

And if there is one thing Uzumaki, Naruto had longed to see right now, for the past seven years—is something to counter Orochimaru's vestiges of belief…that everything fades away to nothingness…and that nothing truly does stay the same.

But how could he hold on to his weak proposition, when the only evidence that made him believe he had ever been right had now driven a knife into his heart, betraying him of the single sensible thing that kept him alive? He thought that emotions—love specifically—could never change; has no end as it has no clear beginning. If that would ever be true, then his beloved would still be by his side. Uchiha, Sasuke would have come back home for his kitsune—but that never happened.

Sasuke had completely deserted him.

No. Wasn't it the other way around? He, Naruto had deserted him, had pushed him out of his miserable life. But no matter how far had he gone from running away, still, his Uchiha would go after him, ready to accept him even if he fails. Sasuke never left his side. It was he who had inflicted hundred times of pain to his beloved, but then, for the last moment, it was Uchiha, Sasuke who broke the bond that connected them both in heart, mind, soul and body. And so Naruto was left to be punished for his despicable act of trying so hard to love the one man who brought tears to his eyes and smiles to his supple lips.

He was a moron, always trying to be better; always wanting to prove himself even if it means hurting the ones he love. How ironic it was, that he might want for something he has so cruelly, coldly thrown away. How unmoved he was when he had scarred the emotions of those so close to the now-wounded part of him that neither modern medicine nor the traditional healing art could reach! Yes, he was always a show-off…but how else could he prove them his self-worth?

Oh, but wait there. Sasuke had seen Naruto's significance even without his kitsune trying so damn hard. He had loved him for who he is and not for what he could be. And that's the fact that Naruto has failed to see. That regardless of his flaw, there will always be someone desiring to lay wanting lips hungrily upon his own only to silence his words of self-pity.

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"Sa-Sasuke…Nani?"

His silence remained as the only ethereal reply as the Uchiha sat on the window sill, staring at the blond dobe who had been occupying his bed.

"Sasuke…Sasuke no teme!" he yelled in a high-pitched voice that doesn't sound like his own at all. The raven-haired Shinobi just shrugged off his sudden change of temperament and resumed his little torturing which he finds, much to the blond's dismay, a little amusing.

"Baka! Stop staring! It gives me goosebumps, would you mind?" he threw his flaxen bangs away from his cerulean eyes. Sasuke on the other hand, relished on the sight of the dobe's powerful and seductive orbs as his fatal, blatant smile was reflected in them. Naruto, who had been lying in bed with a hell lot of bandages tried to arch his back into a mid-stretch and yelled when several of his muscles gave in to the hurt.

"What kind of pleasure do you find by staring at the form of a man you have almost beaten to death at training earlier, huh, Uchiha bastard? My muscles are sore and my forehead is still bleeding and I can barely move. Don't tell me you find that pretty amusing and equally as sensual as I am dancing naked in front of you huh?" the young kitsune almost drowned in the distant glint that played on the eyes of the Sharingan bearer, who shrugged once again, and still unperturbed, continued to watch him.

"Why? Do you prefer my ass hurting and bleeding instead?" he snapped, losing his patience.

"Wouldn't you?" the Uchiha remarked playfully although his face displayed nothing but his eternal mask of coldness and nonchalance.

"Y-You baka! You sadistic fucker! Do you think I prefer you beating me to death at our sparring match then fucking me senseless afterwards as if it's your way to make it up to me? No—I don't find it arousing and I hate it, fuck you! I am not a whore who screams in heat everytime you—"

The dobe didn't see it coming nor has he ever thought of it but he suddenly realized that he couldn't talk any longer, because the midnight-haired lad had claimed his lips, covering it with his own dry ones. Naruto tried to argue with him but the Uchiha, taking his opportune moment when the blond opened his mouth to tell him off, to plunge his tongue in, delicately luring the blond to submission. Naruto, all of his thoughts vanishing into thin air, suddenly felt the warmth spreading through his body and settling somewhere in places he didn't want the Uchiha to take notice by now.

So he was almost grateful and disappointed all at the same time when Sasuke broke off his kiss and leaned on the bed, settling his dark, blank eyes upon him once again.

"Shut up, dobe. You're making me forget you're injured." He said, coldly but with mixtures of coaxing. Naruto frowned at him once again, a pretence, because deep inside, the little monster of the Uzumaki roars in triumph by the mere sight of the Sharingan bearer looking at his with such interest and…love, hidden beneath the shadows of his dark, smouldering glare.

"I have always wanted to be complete, Naruto. After losing my whole clan, after being isolated from the kids of my age—god, I missed being whole." He said, his eyes reflecting the sadness of his tone. Naruto felt the grief—knew it—wants to share it, but he kept quiet, wanting nothing but the rarely heard confessions from the mouth of the man who kept away from life.

"So what's that got to do with you staring at me?" Naruto pushed, trying to sound mad but at the brink of failure.

"Because I have finally found the concluding piece of the puzzle that completes my life. And I am frightened that once I close my eyes, it may vanish, forever. I can't lose you, _my kitsune_…not now that I have finally found you."

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_But you're not with me anymore, Sasuke-san. You're gone. You're the ghost of me. But I'm still here, waiting. My puzzle, was broken. I lost you, and I never will find you. Sasuke-san…do I have to keep on living? You told me, when we got separated once, when you joined that snake's army, that you will always hear me…just call, you said. Just shout my name and I'll come for you. You will—come back for me, wouldn't you?_

_But I have called for the thousandth time and you never came._

_Do you still hear me then?_

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She smiled at her own reflection as she brushed her cherry-pink, waist-length hair. Cool, emerald eyes looked back at her, carrying the same unmistakable glint of strength and persistence within them. Ivory, pale skin and the most treasured facial contours characterized her beauty into perfection. The childish hints of merry plays upon the edge of her mouth had evolved into a powerful words of a woman. Her body had curved into a sumptuous, elegant form framed by the silken Chinese dress she's wearing, making her more desirable than before. Wisdom beyond her years voluptuously crowned her knowing eyes, and her deliciously crafted image made the word 'perfection' an understatement. She is beyond intolerable beauty. Above praise and beyond fear.

She is Sakura, Haruno, the mother of the last living heir to a legacy—the wife of a powerful man whose words were to be followed and not to be broken by the people of a new, blossoming country.

The key that called to life the clan that had been buried six feet under. Buried, but not dead. Alive, but not breathing.

The clan that carries the Sharingan Bloodline Limit.

The Uchiha.

"Hayaku! Hayaku, Kaa-san!" a young boy, about the age of six appeared at the reflection of her wooden-framed mirror, making Sakura squeal with surprise. She pulled out her makeshift frown, put down the brush she was using, then turned to the child who had his hands on his waist, his intense emerald eyes boring a hole through her.

Sakura adored the simple ways her son's eyes would roll from one direction to another, showing off his impatience. She loved seeing the excitement in his bright green eyes—the only feature he got from her.

All else—from the delicate curve of his nose and the prominent cheeks—the thick dark lashes and extravagantly preciuos facial expressions drawn by an utterance of breath—to the smooth angle of his chin and his almost-perfect smile—came from his great father. Uchiha, Izuki is the miniature personification of the man Haruno, Sakura had worshipped as a child and had finally won over as a woman.

"Hayaku, Heika-chan, or we'll miss the show!" the child ranted, his velvety dark, midnight-colored hair swaying as the wind blew from the window. Sakura smiled at her son but immediately pasted the façade in the immaculate form of a distinct frown.

"Demo, Izuki-dono…I am not yet ready." She said, hiding her amusement. "You'll have to wait 'til I am done with my hair."

The child's round eyes widen in immediate annoyance but he quickly reclaimed his unperturbed, indifferent pretence. "As you wish, Heika-chan but I tell you, the show would be astounding! Too bad we missed it because you took so long on your vanity."

"Now, now, where have you learn to talk like that, child?" she said in false undertone. Izuki pouted, glaring at his mother's face for the longest time, his huge emerald orb unblinking. "Izuki-kun?"

"Kaa-san, you can't fool me, you know?" the child at last blinked, a small smile dawning on his pale lips. Instantly, Sakura burst out laughing. She took the child in her arms, hugging him tightly.

"Kaa-san, I can't breathe!" Izuki blurted out, hands flailing wildly at his sides. He tried to pry away his mother's grip of off him but his protests was unheard of.

Izuki had been as red as tomato when his mother was done with her bear-hug. Coughing, the child threw her another of his piercing glares then remembering something, he asked innocently, "Kaa-san, can I ask you something?"

"Hn?"

Swoosh…

"Where's Konoha?"

The brush Sakura retrieved had fell to the marble floor with a loud, ear-splitting sound. Izuki almost lost his aloofness as his mother shot up straight from the chair and grabbed both his shoulders, shaking him as she continuously asked;

"Where have you heard that name, Izuki? Tell me. Who dare speak that name? Has your father heard about this? Izuki! Does anyone else knows?"

"K-Kaa-san…M-Megumi kind of mentioned it earlier at class you see." Izuki's eyes widened as he watched the colors draining from his mother's face; the hands holding him trembling uncontrollably. It surprised him to see her reaction when she had just been smiling joyfully at him a minute before. Reflected in those emerald eyes were desperation and worries Izuki had never seen his mother wear. "I-I was curious. I have never heard of such 'Konoha' before."

Sakura stared at his face for a couple of minute's silence as if trying to weigh his words. Finally, she sighed…picking herself up from crouching on the floor, muttering a decent apology assuming that the man she's talking to is not barely out of his preschool years.

"What's in Konoha, Kaa-san?" Izuki saw the calmness finally taking over his mother's features and felt it safe to push on with his inquiries. He blinked naively as he watched his Kaa-san's graceful, yet unsure movements.

Sakura threw her son a silencing look and turned on her heels after picking up the brush that rolled over underneath the wardrobe. "Konoha doesn't exist, Izuki. It's some child-conjured paradise that doesn't suit to be told to an Uchiha heir. Now get along. I'll be there in a few minutes."

"But—Kaa-san, Megumi told us it's a great town where the legendary Nins originated. What are Nins, Kaa-san? Megumi told me they're trained warriors who fight for justice! And she also mentioned this **H-U-G-E** arena in the middle of the town where people flock to every year to catch this certain event—what was that again—the Chuunin Exam—yeah…that's what I remembered or was it Chuusin—no it was Chuukin—I think…or was it…"

"**IZUKI STOP!"** Sakura roared, her patience wearing out. Izuki looked up to his mother, seeing rage personified within her eyes and he immediately shut his mouth. "Konoha doesn't exist. Megumi's just telling you a story. Something from a dreamworld, conjured by an un-preoccupied mind. If you want to be like your father you'll stop being a child and grow up already!"

Sakura saw the tears forming on the side of her son's eyes but she didn't seem to care. He heard his cries, his shouting before he turned his back on her and sprinted outside without another word, but she just stood there, anger filling her to the brim of her existence. But as the fury slowly fades, Izuki's voice echoed within her, reiterating with no falter.

"I am not **him**, Kaa-san! Why do I always have to be like Otou-san? I don't want to be an abomination like my father! I hate him! And I hate you! I despise you both! And I hate wearing the shirt with the uchiwa symbols in it!"

Sakura would have laughed at Izuki's last words given the right situation. Yes, Izuki may have been a part of the Uchiha Clan but he doesn't seem proud of it. He is especially revolted at the thought of wearing the Uchiha Clan's insignia—the paper fan. He would often say the design is too girly for his taste. But this isn't the time to be laughing about it now. She should go after the boy before he gets himself lost and hurt again.

But she merely stared at the empty space that had swallowed up her son. And she did nothing but that.

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"Na-Naruto-kun, daijobu ka?" a male husky voice asked, his face buried in the pillow as movements never ceased. He heard Naruto's own muffled reply but it didn't register clearly in his clouded mind. Instincts just drove him to thrust in and out of _his _kitsune more forcefully, and neither his assurance that he was hurt, nor his own conscience telling him he was being a down right jerk could stop him from taking the blond senselessly. He, Sasuke, had been so desperate to make the loud-mouth dobe his.

Naruto had clung on to his shoulders tightly as he continued to work his way in and out, unmindful of the weight and the pain in that place where Sasuke had been penetrating himself. He had so often dreamt of this and it sure does felt a lot better doing it and only imagining it. At least he would not be hard up pleasuring himself all alone.

But Naruto couldn't seem to get enough of the Uchiha's menial thrusts. On the contrary, he wanted more of him. So he clasp his arms around the Sharingan holder's waist and urged him to go on a little harder, rocking his hips more assuring to encourage the brunette. Naruto heard him groan his way inside his tightness and his lips split into a wide smile for that. Then, he wound his legs around the boy on top of him, helping him to get more delicious little frictions on their flesh.

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Naruto went against the nauseous recollections in mind and directly followed his instincts. Though the pain still throbs within his heart, he knew he must confirm the inevitable. He wanted to see with his own two eyes that the certain Uchiha, Sasuke still exist, breathes, smiles—loves.

He knew it would be difficult but he has to try. There is still some hope left. He let a minute, stunningly agonizing smile to dawn upon his quivering lips. Yes, it would be difficult but Sasuke meant his words when he said he won't let his kitsune go without a fight. He wouldn't let Naruto hurt for him.

_He promised._

So he walked on, cutting his way through the hanging branches as he leapt from one tree to another. The wind went against his direction, filling him with the cold that pierces though is skin like flame lapping up his soul. The thick foliages prevented too much sunlight to filter through, denying him the warmth of embers that could kill the freezing coldness within him.

Will Sasuke forgive him for being such an unfair dobe? That after all the promises made, Naruto uncharacteristically let his beloved fade away.

Naruto choked back his tears. Surprisingly, yes, tears. He had never cried so easily before…no…he never cried before. Not in front of anyone, not even his beloved. He doesn't want to appear pathetic, but right now, is not the time to be holding back. If he continued doing so—it would explode within him, destroying his emotions and sanity together with it. Fragile is not a word to be trampled upon, because it can unceremoniously burn you up inside.

_It was a mistake. _

He heaved a deep sigh, pausing to catch a second's breath as he leaned on the trunk of a towering tree, looking towards the far horizon. A small, undisturbed village loomed in the direction over the east and if he hurry, he might reach it before midnight. He had been on the road for two straight weeks with no decent sleep and food to eat. Tsunade-sama didn't even know he left Konoha. She didn't know Naruto had been in her office, prowling among her hundreds of top secret files until he came across the particular one he had been looking for.

Uchiha, Izuki. That was the name written on the file. It was reported and sent in authority by one of Konoha's most renowned spy, Ichitaka, Megumi—a Jounin. Naruto wasn't able to read the rest of the testimony though, because of sudden unworthy of mentioning interferences. Only the name of this particular place was instilled in his head. Migono, Shadow Country.

And so that's where he's headed. In a painful attempt to know why Sasuke had changed his name to Izuki and why Tsunade-sama refused to give him more information about her discovery. He wanted to see for himself the ghost of the man that had risen from death.

He wanted to know if his Uchiha still feels for him the way he does almost seven years ago, when they were of fresh age of sixteen, when everything goes the way they want it to be. When they would lose themselves in the erratic vortex of their dreams and anticipation for the potentials of the future.

Naruto mused further on. Konoha had offered him his most priceless dream almost a year ago. It wants him to become the Hokage, taking up after Tsunade-sama. But he refused. Not because he gave up on dreaming—he still has a lot of them, though most of it involves a certain brunette with dark eyes—but because he had made a pact with his Uchiha that if ever this day comes, Sasuke should be the one to commemorate him. But how could he accept, knowing that his beloved one wouldn't be there to watch him? If only he could turn back time—

His heart had ceased beating for a whole minute, thinking of the impossible. But his senses came back to him when he heard a divergent sound directly below where he stood. Out of curiosity, or maybe out of pure care, which he failed to recognize at the moment, he crouched low and searched for the source of the sound.

There it was, at the farthest corner of his vantage point—a child sat on the bushes with his head resting on his knees. Naruto could hear distant sniffling sound coming from the boy, suggesting quite literally that he is crying. Assessing him up, Naruto concluded the boy to be about five to seven years of age, pale skin and dark spun of unmistakable midnight hair. Even though with the child's face still obscured, the kitsune easily feels a deep anticipation within him. Following his infallible instincts once again, he jumped down and landed smoothly on the ground. Slowly, he made his way towards the child, his voice calling out in a soft tone, asking the broken lad the matter.

Silence served as his only reply. Naruto halted a few meters away from the fallen entity, just staring, simply letting his instincts take over him. Foreboding flooded within him in no such reason, but Naruto waited—

Progressively, the child peered within the gap of his arms where his face had been buried. Progressively, Naruto saw the deep, rounded emerald eyes and the knitted brows. Afterwards, the smooth, ivory cheekbones then the pale, pink lips curved downward to re-created the atmosphere of a frown with such great mastery of the art, revealed themselves to him.

And what followed next procrastinated the progression, if not cut the threads of nonexistent hope that had managed to clung onto Naruto's heart after all these years, confirming the foreboding that had attached themselves to his heart, summing up all the pain and denial in one full blow of reasons.

**The child resisted any flaws of imperfection—the child is the evidence that made all denial possible.**

And from somewhere, where the dangerously infinite void resides, came out a voice.

_He who shamed me in façade of tenderness. He who mocked me but yearned for my embrace. He who displays indifference but so much in need of love—of my love. He who became the demigod of my dreams._

_The ghost that haunts me._

_My mistake._

_My beloved._

"Sasuke."

The boy's face contorted to a dissent of hurt, then his lips moved into unuttered screams.

"I am **NOT** my father!" and with that, after what seemed like a lingering eternity, he pivoted and left Naruto stuck hurting on the ground.

**END OF FIRST CHAPTER**

A/N: Please…I beg you do review! My inspiration thrives on feedback!Ja

I want to acknowledge **Vertical Horizon**'s song **I'm Still Here** Continue rocking the entire world guys I love yah!


	2. Take Me Away

**Notes:** Thanks for the reviews! Here is the next chapter! I know this would be a late update but bear with me please, I have class 7-7 and I barely have the time to eat! Please, continue reviewing! I love you all! Please I beg you…heh heh.

**You Belong to Me**

(SasuNaru)

By Feralmxstyque

Flashback: Chapter One: I'm Still Here

**_The child resisted any flaws of imperfection._**

—_**the evidence that made all denial possible.**_

_And from somewhere, where the dangerously infinite void resides, came out a voice._

_**He who shamed me in façade of tenderness. He who mocked me but yearned for my embrace. He who displays indifference but so much in need of love—of my love. He who became the demigod of my dreams.**_

_**The ghost that haunts me.**_

_**My mistake.**_

_**My beloved.**_

"_Sasuke."_

_The boy's face contorted to a dissent of hurt, then his lips moved into unuttered screams._

"_I am **NOT** my father!" and with that, after what seemed like a lingering eternity, he pivoted and left Naruto stuck hurting on the ground. _

End Flashback

_This time you burned me with your eyes_

_You see past all the lies_

_You take it all away_

_I've seen it all and it's never enough_

_It keeps leaving me needing you_

_-LifeHouse-_

**Chapter Two: Take Me Away**

He stared past the ones in front of him with a single glance. In a frivolous moment of those surrounding his almost nonexistent universe, his blank pools of void lingered imperceptibly upon the forehead glazed with messy blond fringes. He drew his eyes lower and was instinctively surprised to find clear liquids cascading their way down from a pair of obscured eyes towards tanned cheeks and a bleeding lower lip.

He cocked his head to the side, and even though blessed with unreachable coldness and apathy, a small, dawn of guilt thrust its claws upon his chest by the mere sight of the young blond. Who was he again? Sasuke was so sure he was in his class. Iruka-sensei had introduced him to them a few weeks after the first term of classes had started. Wasn't he the fox who instantly annoyed the capital barbie's of the class, Ino and Haruno, Sakura immediately with his happy-go-lucky and unmindful manner of dealing with things? Wasn't he the one who stood up as a volunteer in one of Kurenai's classes and boastfully announced that he's going to be the greatest Hokage ever sired in Konoha? Wasn't he the 'bakemono', the ghost whose name is whispered only by the distant traveling wind?

_Wasn't he the one who 'accidentally' laid his lips upon mine? Hah, a chaste kiss, but I felt it. Tasted sweet and bitter, before he took it away._

So who was he again?

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The child bolted to a run. Naruto wanted to go after him—to demand a vain explanation—to follow him to where the little boy would lead him. The kitsune didn't ponder on so much as to where the vulnerable, blooming god would go, because deep inside he knew the answer.

It would lead him to his beloved.

But he didn't need to see the Uchiha personally, because the child had done more damage than the prodigy screaming words to deny Naruto's very existence, their past's very existence.

The child is simply the living punishment for Naruto's sins.

And more painful than it is suppose to hurt, Naruto finally understood. Sasuke gave him up for this child. Sasuke had chosen a path he knew Naruto wouldn't be able to give.

And yes, he was an idiot to be astounded by this possible reality. Of course, Sasuke had always dreamed of restoring his clan. And in doing it, he needed a woman to bear him a child and build him a home. That was the part Naruto would not be able to act out because he just wasn't good enough, and he can't blame Sasuke for trying.

Because Naruto just wasn't good enough, even to bear hatred to the man he loves.

"Then who _are_ you?" the blond whispered in a feverish voice, trying to encage the tears that opposes his demeanour. The shuffling of feet upon the grass methodically stopped and the child, as if stunned and seduced by the power of such voice engulfed with a mysterious aura of mourning, turned to face the lone soul, his head tilting to his side and his expression amused and bewildered.

"You asked of who I am?" the child sniffed, jade eyes searching for answers through the soul of a pretender. Naruto, gathering up his courage, levelled his eyes upon the boy's flaming one's and nodded.

"I guess I did."

The child continued to stare at him, as if unable to believe what he was hearing. Then, cocking his head to the other side, the boy replied in a voice that betrays his unmarred front;

"Izuki." Then he added with a frown, "Uchiha, Izuki."

Izuki caught the fleeting rise of the man's chest—suggesting he had just heaved a huge sigh at the mention of his name, but he didn't catch the hurt that momentarily escaped the blond demigod's cerulean eyes. Fidgeting like a child, Naruto pulled out a small smile and stared at the boy for the longest time that it was Izuki who took the initiative of speaking once again.

"You must be new here." Slowly, the child took a step forward, wanting to take a closer look at the stranger in front of him.

"I guess I am." The blond kitsune replied, still fighting the urge to cry and laugh at the same time. God, is he talking to the child that denied him of his beloved! Was he trying to be friends with the son of the man who left him bleeding to death from a wound he knew would never heal!

"What's your name?" the boy continued to inquire.

Naruto paused for a second before he considered answering the boy's query.

"Uzumaki, Naruto. My name is Uzumaki, Naruto."

"You look so sad." The boy whispered and Naruto almost tumbled back to see the child so very near him, his emerald eyes fixed on him. "What's wrong with you?" the beautiful pair of glassy eyes studied him from head to toe, seeing through his front, and Naruto backed away some more, trying to go as far from the boy as possible, shielding his face with his arm as if the boy is some flamboyant fan-girl who would initially jump him at sight.

"N-Nothing." _Shit! _What the hell is happening to you, Naruto! You're trembling like a mad little girl! Get a fucking hold of yourself! This Izuki is—is just a boy who—

_Took your place in your beloved's heart._

"Nothing?" Izuki continued interrogating him, his hands on his waist. Naruto could clearly see the sparkle of interest in the boy's eyes—and the traces of the clear liquid that had once cascaded down pale cheeks. God, it almost felt like he has come alive again—as if he's talking face to face with the one Uchiha, Sasuke. The features, the voice and even the air of arrogance reminded him of the Prodigy.

This child is the Devil Incarnate.

"Why?" Naruto pulled out his practiced weapon, the unfeeling and uncaring façade he had grown accustomed to when dealing with Missing Nins and faced the child, trying to intimidate him. But with that, the child's interest seemed to have grown from a mere amber sparkle to a large flame.

"Don't go hiding. I have lived with a man whose so used in hiding he almost lost himself." The answer was so quick and intelligible that Naruto failed to recognize the words as accurate as he should have.

"And who could it be?"

"My father. You spoke of his name earlier. You know him, don't you?"

"No. I guess I don't."

"Liar."

"Hah…a little bit doubtful, aren't you child?" Naruto brushed slender fingers against his almost-pallid hair, chuckling loudly after a recollection crossed his mind.

"Do you know my Father?" Izuki asked for the second time, his eyes unmoving and his tone roughly pleading. "All I need is a little answer, Naruto-san."

"And what would be in it for you if I say I know your father, " Naruto halted for a second before, "…_knew_…actually. Before."

"You _were_ from his old hometown, weren't you! So it's true! It really _is_ there somewhere!" the boy jumped excitedly, "I knew I'm right! Kaa-san was wrong! Konoha _actually_ exists! It does, doesn't it?"

Naruto was on verge of answering the boy's inquiries when a voice broke out the momentarily pause, calling out the name of the child who had been waiting impatiently for his reply. The child's small impatient pout turned to something else, all in thinking he had heard a voice calling out for his name. His expression turned dour, and looking at Naruto, he seemed to beg him not to reveal the hiding place that brought the only solace to his youthful space. And with that incessant look, Naruto gave his word, though it was a fleeting agreement, Izuki understood.

Izuki fears the voice in his mind…and Naruto would save him from it. Naruto would not give him to that curt voice. Naruto-san would make the voice go away, like what Izuki's father would do when the voice follows his son around. And somehow, Izuki knows Naruto is just like his father. Izuki knows Naruto understood.

"Izuki, don't worry." The blonde told the child soothingly, confused at what made the child so frail all of the sudden. Instinctively, the midnight-haired lad lunged at him, throwing a pair of fragile arms around the kitsune's waist, hugging him tightly, as if afraid the older man would just disappear into thin air.

"Don't let her get me!" the child whispered, holding on to him tighter that all Naruto could do was to graze his hands on Izuki's hair as a gesture of comfort.

"I won't." Naruto answered in sincerity, although he doubted the front he had delivered. Had the boy been imagining things, or has he mistaken the howling of the powerful, potent wind as a voice calling out his unuttered name? Almost the correct answer, but Naruto doubted.

No, but for once Naruto thought he heard a voice, too, but it was, as he had stated, just the wind blowing amongst the rustle of the leaves.

"She hurts me." The child pushed, levitating closer to the stranger as if he had known the blond all through his life. But then, it felt so right, as if the gods had destined them to meet. Moving on impulse, Izuki hugged him tighter, telling him not to go.

"Sssshhhh…it's just the wind, Izuki. Just the wind. No one's here." He cooed, attempting to get into the child's mind.

"No…there she is! And she's mad! She'll beat me up, Naruto-san. Don't let her touch me, please!" the cries became louder, leaving no other option but to heed.

"Okay, okay, Izuki…who is this woman you're talking about? Where is she? Who is she? Does she hurt you often, child?"

"She hurts me."

"Does she intend it? Don't worry, you can tell me. I'm not going to let the world in on this…I can keep a secret."

Izuki looked up as he loosen his hold on the perchance first genuine friend he had so far. The so-called Naruto looked down at him with pure azure blue that was the sky personified in the mornings. The child let a smile touch his lips at this notion, noting the presence of the beautiful entity that had just shown himself to his futile son. The ethereal godliness who spoke his father's name just a while ago. A friend. Somehow that stirred up his soul. Nobody had been so nice as to offer to become his friend.

"Naruto-san. I'm scared. She would hurt me. She loves me but she hurts me, Naruto-san. And now she's mad, she would hurt me again. Like the last time—she hurt me and Otou-san wasn't around to protect me from the pain. No one wanted to help me and I'm scared."

"Is she your mother?" the venom was released at the last word, giving it a deathly emphasis. Izuki, though slowly, nod his head in agreement and grabbed the older man's hands, pulling him gently away from where they stood.

"Yes. But she hurts me." The pain was felt at those simple words and it nearly broke Naruto's heart. The child is the very personification of his father's sadness, of Uchiha, Sasuke's unearthed side. The one he has so long denied the people surrounding him. The pleading in his eyes, the imperceptible pout, that was all Sasuke's.

"Don't be afraid. She won't hurt you when I am around."

"But I wasn't supposed to talk to strangers! She'll hurt me, worse she'll hurt you, too! I can't…I can't stay here, Naruto-san! I have to go back to the palace, else she'll hurt you, too! I have to go. Now!" the child almost yelled, pulling violently on his hair. Without a final word, the child took off on a run and stopped just a few meters away from the stunned blond.

"You're my new friend, right?"

Naruto could only nod, his protest searing proverbially within him. With this, the child's scowl turned to a hushed smile and a simple gesticulate.

"I am yours, too. Bye Naruto-san!"

--

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--

He looked at the demon-fox with so much contempt in his eyes it almost killed the one he was glaring at. There were blood cascading down from the demon-child's forehead, and there were bruises on his face, an evident reminder of the pain he had endured just a seemingly while ago.

He wasn't a baby, nor was he a child to be cuddled, and the cold, dark eyes knew that, so he merely stared, watching the blood make its way down the nose-bridge of the one Uzumaki, Naruto…then finally falling down his lips, which was also bleeding from a cut.

Then, with painful sovereignty of his unconscious self, Uchiha, Sasuke, the child prodigy himself, broke the distance between them, bringing his face closer to that of the blond. And then, in one swift motion, his tongue shot out from his mouth, gently licking the solemn trace of blood that made their way down the blond's cheeks.

Naruto started with a jump, almost bumping his forehead with that of the prodigy himself, but Sasuke could only return a sad but malicious grin, matching the blond's confused one.

"W-What are…y-you trying to do?" he stuttered. Sasuke took a step forward, drawing the blond nearer to him in one arm and smiled, his beautiful, almost unused expression.

"Clean you up, what else do you conjecture?" he replied, his tongue darting back out and now finding the trails of blood on the blond's nose-tip. Naruto whimpered at this but he didn't dare break the contact. He just stood still while the Uchiha's skillful limb made their way back on his cheeks, tasting the bitter-sweet combination that excited him to a pleasure none could ever equal. Then, finding no interest on the now-crimson colored cheeks, he made his way down to the cut on the kitsune's lips—his tongue teasing at first before he fully brought it down and licked the cut playfully and sensually altogether. It took a single breath before the feather-light touches stole the Uchiha's mind and the moment was too late before he found himself locked in a fiery battle with the blond, a war for supremacy and it seems as if Sasuke won.

He grabbed Naruto by the collar, all the while plunging his tongue forcefully to deepen the already cavernous kiss. Naruto tried to push him away, hissing words of contemplation at intervals for breathing but Sasuke would not have a hear for it. He wanted to taste the fox god and he wanted it badly, and the painful realization of that truth almost made Sasuke choke. Yes, he had admitted it to himself, he wanted the blond to be his and he wanted it to happen right _now._

Fearing that Naruto would object, he slowly lessen his grip on the kitsune's collar, finally encircling his arms around the blond's waist. Naruto gently obliged when Sasuke urged him to wrap his legs around the brunette's waist, cradling him like a child. God, how much had he wanted it be? He could not even count the times when he had dreamt of total submission, how he desired Naruto to know how much he loves him.

Love. That was a difficult word to consider, especially for one who is expected to do the best he could for the sake of others—others like himself. A prodigy. A powerful asset of his country and of his village. A handsome young child who has perfected the art of war. An infant searching for the warmth in the cradling arms of those who loves him. A lost avenger who desired only the bittersweet affection from the lips of the one he had learned to treat a rival. His beloved. _His_ kitsune.

Hoisting the blond up on his waist, he dragged him to bed before he so tenderly pushed him down on the mattress. Naruto gave up to a cry of surprise when Sasuke claimed his lips once again, sealing the protest he so wanted to scream out but couldn't and much more eagerly, wouldn't. Sasuke laid himself softly on top of the blond, lifting himself up only a little to look upon those hungry azure eyes that looked appalled and amazed at the varying degrees of the moment, covering the incessant blushing that forms on the either side of his cheeks when the Uchiha's gaze searched through him in return.

"I want you." The Uchiha softly murmured, nuzzling on the crook of the neck of the whimpering Uzumaki, Naruto. "I want you to be mine, Naruto. I want to share your pain, please…let me." There was a tone of pleading in his voice that startled the boy beneath him. Sasuke hadn't noticed it but a glint of something close to reverence sparkled in those sky-like eyes.

"S-Sasuke…I don't…understand what's happening. Uhm…p-p-please…uh… don't…"

"Don't what?"

A pause of breathing. Convergence of silence and fear before…

"Don't use me. I cant take it if…y-you used me then throw me out like I was nothing to you. I—I won't live another breath…S-Sasuke…I won't live if—if you…used me." There was so much hurt in his voice that almost shattered the brunette's heart. Voids of pools connected with those of the azure-blue sky, and for a second which lasted to the ultimate span of nothingness in infinity, both understood, and cried out that the one needed the other not only for a single moment but for eternity.

"Liar." the Uchiha replied, starting off with his mindless pillaging for kisses once again, ignoring Naruto's self-pitying remark and breaking the nonsense which forged answer the blond venerated. "I won't use you once, Naruto, because after this I wouldn't be able to go back sleeping alone. I need you. And I want you to stay just where I want you to be…"

--

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Naruto panted. It was past twilight and the shelter of everlasting darkness stretched afar, blanketing her distant daughter of forest in small apathy. From the distant he could see the child running on top speed in the direction towards the village. Naruto put up a good distance so as to prevent the child from detecting his presence. It was a great deal of a burden, leaping from one tree to another in the middle of the night trying to make sure somebody you wanted to keep safe is alright while your mind argues with your impulse about the outcome of your actions. It's true that Uzumaki, Naruto longs to see his newfound 'friend' to be safe and sound as he made his way back home, and there's nothing really wrong about that. He was just being protective…just to be certain the boy gets home in one piece. In a place like a forest one could not deduce the thoughts of the wilderness that might dwell in them…and the fact that these creatures may as well feed on the night. But on another matter, the boy's destination is what screams the contradiction. Naruto is quite sure, as sure as he can be about anything else in this world, that where this boy would direct him crosses path with where his beloved resides. Yes, the boy would, in no comparative doubt, would lead him to Uchiha, Sasuke.

The boy took another left turn as he came to the village gates. Several leather-clad men bowed at the sight of the child, suggesting a stringent possibility of the boy holding a high position in relation to their high court. No one would keep such high respect to a child if he is not in connection with a superior. Naruto, keeping his pace steady, slipped in past the gates, just beyond the fortress' towering wall, unknown to the eyes of the guards. It was such a pathetic mode of resistance if the guards would only stand at the entrance gates and leave the rest of the upper part of the walls unaided. If Sasuke really is the governing body of this village, just as his child had said, then he had become a downright jerk for a tactician after all these years. The thought allowed the frown to vacate the blond's lip, leaving it open for the dawn of his solemn smile. Yes, after all these years Naruto had attained the only thing he had desired so much from the Uchiha prodigy…

He had beaten him. Finally…

--

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"**Just once…Sasuke…why can't you!" **

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"Thanks, Uchiha-kun." He sighed as he persisted on his pursue of the youth who had just rushed through a small alleyway. Izuki wasn't far. Naruto could see the child going towards one particular manor from that direction, him having the vantage point from above the roof of the houses. So that's it. That's where he lives now. A manor, just like what he always wanted. Huh, and he still did lose the bet…but still…Sasuke…he…

"He let me win."

--

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"S-Sasuke—what the fuck are you talking about!" he asked, his eyes wide as he tried to push the raven-haired boy away from him with his futile strength. Even at this, Sasuke still dominated him. Damn! "What do you wish to do to me!"

"What the hell do you think I'm trying to do to you, kitsune?" the Uchiha replied, grinning at him as he pushed the blond one harder towards the wall, pinning him using his body which exuded so much warmth Naruto almost burned. "Or would you care to be more 'verbal' so as to fire you from neutrality?"

Naruto's face easily reddened at his words, his azure orbs falling from the Uchiha's coal-like eyes down to his pink, inviting lips, which was so—so wrong. Within a second of his stare he felt his arm move on their own free will, wrapping around the Uchiha's shoulders and his lips peacefully, and yet forcefully igniting a fight of supremacy between him and his supposed lover. In the end, though, as it might have been predicted, Sasuke won the fight, assisting Naruto's form away from the wall without breaking their heated kiss and slowly settling him on his knees by the floor. It wasn't so much as a blur that Naruto didn't even realize Sasuke had stripped him off his shirt if not for the fact that he suddenly felt cold. The friction of the wind's lightness and the Uchiha's ghostly caresses was enough to drive him wild and he thanked the gods he didn't lose it right there.

"Tell me…What do you want Naruto?"

--

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"Tadaima!"

Naruto shook out of his stupor and stared at the woman who fell forward on her knees the moment Izuki stood at the porch's steps. He wasn't wrong to hypothesize that the manor he had seen from the rooftops was the one where Uchiha, Izuki resides. It was grand, grander than the manor he had came across with in one of his travels. God, Sasuke would have been so wealthy as to own a manor like this one. Well, he might even consider Sasuke having to have to own a whole mine if Naruto doesn't know him to be so scornful about businesses and stuff related to money-making.

And yet it wasn't the sight of the sumptuousness of the manor, nor the welcoming yell of the youth that shook Naruto out of his irrelevant daydreaming state, nor was it the fault of the winds that almost made him fall off the branch from where he was standing, but it was the sight of familiarity that struck him upon looking at the woman who, now, has Izuki in her arms.

Pink, luscious hair. Porcelain, white skin and the delicate, small physique that suggests how a luscious woman should be built. Damn it! It almost struck a cord at Naruto's heart. The pain was in its intensity by the mere frame of this woman that he had to clutch on to his chest in fear that his heart may break free because of the hurt.

Kneeling a few feet away from him, is the woman Sasuke had chosen to become a wife, whom Sasuke had decided to become the mother of his heir. Of course he had failed to consider this before but any prospect of progeny requires a fertile woman's womb to carry the blood that would be the child.

And it was none other than Haruno, Sakura.

Or was she just a ghost from the fragments of his past coming to haunt him as well?

Naruto watched in full contempt as the woman kissed Izuki thrice on the cheeks, apologizing to the dear boy who smiled up at her like an innocent angel. Yes, it was no doubt Haruno, Sakura…but, how come! What had that bitch done to his beloved! No…no it just wasn't it! Sasuke was never in love with Haruno, Sakura! Not even in a single glimpse of the moment was that fucking bitch lucky to deserve the love of the prodigy—but a child!

Naruto had taken it a go-signal when Izuki proceeded inside the manor to confront the kunoichi. Jumping from his hiding place, Naruto landed well enough infront of the surprised kunoichi who almost fell on her knees at the sight of him. Naruto knew…he could read from Sakura's eyes the fear of his return. Sakura had dreamt of this encounter before…and now it has finally come true. Naruto would have to know about everything and Sakura would do better than to hide the truth from him.

"O-genki desu ka?" he greeted the moment his feet landed on the dirt path. The manor stood a few kilometres in radius from the city proper and is surrounded by forestry right after crossing the alleyway Izuki had came through earlier. This means nobody is in clear proximity to help her even if she screams on to of her lungs…and this is certainly the thought that crossed Sakura's mind.

"Arigato Gozaimazu. Genki desu." She replied, her voice still and firm although there was a slight hint of discomfort evident in them. Raising her eyebrows, she asked, "What are you doing here, Naruto? After all these years?"

"I was the one in position to ask you that, Sakura." Naruto retorted in a cold voice. Sakura backed off a few steps away in his answer. "Why are _you _here?"

Sakura raised another eyebrow, trying to match the coldness that Naruto exudes and yet to no avail. "I live here, Naruto. This is my home. Something I built. It's not for you to care for."

"But I do care, Haruno."

"Because _you _can't build a home? I know this may be rude, Naruto, but I am asking you to leave. Please. Leave my family alone."

"Family, Sakura? Something you robbed from me?" his tone kept his restraint for emotions. Sentiments that scream for immediate release. Pain that masks itself upon a single reason. Of Sasuke forgetting an already broken promise…

Although the blond knew his hurt couldn't be summed up in one reason alone.

"I did not rob anything from you, Naruto. You gave everything away because you turned your back from it! So please, do stop haunting me and just leave in peace for heaven's sake!"

"I will leave, Sakura, after a single question."

She looked up at him. Her meticulous silence bearing the answer 'yes'.

"Is Izuki an only child, or have you tainted Sasuke's flesh more than once?" the straightforwardness of his question almost took Sakura off her front. Anger in her eyes flickered for a moment at the syllable completing Sasuke's name.

"H-How had you known about Sasuke?" she snapped, regaining her breath.

"Why did you have to hide from the whole of Konoha Gakure, bitch?" Naruto's fists were clenched at this point. Sakura's anger became visible as well. The pretty luscious face evolved into a grim incarnation of darkness before dawn.

"Sasuke is not yours to play with, nor to hurt the way you did years before, Naruto! I won't let you hurt Sasuke again! I won't let you take him from me…from me and Izuki! You can't!"

Naruto took a step forward, his cape blowing behind him. At this length, Sakura's eyes traveled along the well-toned muscles beneath his shirt and the transcendent copper of his skin. Naruto's azure-blue eyes were god-like and unyielding…and beautiful. God, if Sasuke sees him again…he might…he might remember…

"Sasuke is not a toy for me, Sakura. Sasuke is my life!"

"No…no you almost killed him. You used him!No, Naruto leave. I beg you!"

Naruto took a step forward making Sakura flinch in return, her lime eyes searching through the blond's unforgiving orbs. _This is Naruto…the boy who almost took her beloved away…_

"You _were_ the one who poisoned his mind, Haruno. You don't have the right to throw insults that are more properly equated to your _kind. _Let's try this once again. Have you had enough shares of your dirt on Sasuke's flesh or do you still hunger for more?"

"I cannot answer more than what I merely know."

"Then answer this," he paused for a moment, holding Sakura's emerald eyes in level with his. "Did he ever _love_ you?"

--

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"**Just once…Sasuke."**

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"**Just once, let me win."**

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The wind blew from the direction opposite of where they both stood, transfixed. The hues painted a solemn ambience, locking them both is a tight pressure of a cage without iron bars where escape, on the contrary, is still inconceivable. Then it was traveling with the wind, that something that deprived them of the senseless humour to respond to the stark, ominous questions that haunted the past. A voice resounded in the distance. A soft-spoken voice toned in velvety harshness of irony directed their mind's presence towards the walkway.

And there, standing almost innocently, silhouetted by the majestic crimson that had somehow eluded the shadows of the coming night, is a man. Almost a few feet taller than the blond kitsune, he had halted at the sight of the stranger before his home. Cocking his head to the side, he studied the man, almost in pure concentration, his brows knitted as if trying to remember what had been forgotten.

It took Naruto's breath away, standing there before Sasuke, the latter studying him form head to toe as if recalling his images from the nights before when he's seen him in his forfeited dreams. Dark fringes fell delicately on his eyes racing frantically towards his pale cheeks. His prominent features were his cheeks, the way they curve into a frown or a smile, even for a few counted times, is the solstice of winter. The way he stand, with his shoulders thrown to the back and dark, charcoal eyes scrutinizing every move, they were familiar to the blond, all of them, but it seems as if he had merely met the Uchiha for the first time, he took it all in. The images, the attitude…he needs to remember exactly how it has been, like the way he remembered his touch for the very fist time. He needed to replay it in his mind afterwards in futile attempt to keep his memories alive…even for once. The way his lashes flutter when he closes his eyes in contentment. His ivory skin that on that very moment glistened under the glow of the new-born stars of the Queen of the night, hugging him in an aura of resembling the blue sky…

The heavens…

Because, even after all hell he had been through, he was and will always be the one man from whom Naruto could catch a glimpse of paradise.

"S-Sasuke." He whispered to himself, and yet words are difficult to contain at these moment that it leaked out beyond the blankets of existence that almost everyone in the vicinity heard it, although none were in the mood to note the longing accompanying that simple name.

Sasuke blinked his eyes a few times before he tilted his head to the other side and questioned, as a retort, the most painful thing Naruto had ever heard spoken to him all through his life.

…

And everything just seemed to stop.

…

"_**Who are you?"**_

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A/N: Thanx a bunch! Please review! Please I do need inspiration here…heh heh. I am in the process of adjusting. My schedule's just not right, but of course, I couldn't give up writing, could I? Even for a few minutes I need to type a paragraph…I mean I need it to clear my mind…well sort of. And I need this so I could take my mind off my stupid Theology classes…no…no I am a believer, but I despise my Theo142 class…I fucking do! So much for the chat, now I'm signing off…REVIEW PLEASE! LOVE YAH!


	3. Life Support

**Important, Read Please! Notes:** Hi…hahah..okie! Now, several from the review panel told me that this fic has an almost identical one here…first, and I ask the courtesy to apologize for the mistake but this 'idea' is the product of my and my best pal's 'idea copulation'. We have had this ideal storyline for almost a year-and-a-half or more…I can't remember but what I knew is that we came up with this when we were in the junior highschool years, which is almost two years ago. Second, the words some say we took from the coincidently same fic are words we've picked up on the mouth of our (stupid) but real funny (though homosexual) Physics professor while conversing with one of our class heartthrobs…well don't get ideas, they were only talking funny (and about green stuffs as usual)…but to clarify, if there is really a conspiracy about the fic and ours, then I am deeply regretting the fact it ever happened. But if it is the case, then it is purely coincidental—a predicament but I think we'll understand. Thanx for reading the CRUCIAL rants guys, and I LOVE YOU! And thanks for dropping the bombs, guys…at least now I know I have a twin! Muahh…Maybe I just don't spend time in the net anymore that I don't have a clue that what I'm writing actually has a mirror image…again, thanks for calling my attention and God Bless!

And hey, I have a treat for you out there…so much as to say it's time to take the rating a little bit higher. There would be some mature scene, rather a warning for explicit sex description but let's be old enough to handle it, kay?

**You Belong To Me**

(SasuNaru)

By: Feralmxstyque

Flashback: Chapter Two: Take Me Away

And there, standing almost innocently, silhouetted by the majestic crimson that had somehow eluded the shadows of the coming night, is a man. Almost a few feet taller than the blond kitsune, he had halted at the sight of the stranger before his home. Cocking his head to the side, he studied the man, almost in pure concentration, his brows knitted as if trying to remember what had been forgotten.

It took Naruto's breath away, standing there before Sasuke, the latter studying him form head to toe as if recalling his images from the nights before when he's seen him in his forfeited dreams. Dark fringes fell delicately on his eyes racing frantically towards his pale cheeks. His prominent features were his cheeks, the way they curve into a frown or a smile, even for a few counted times, is the solstice of winter. The way he stand, with his shoulders thrown to the back and dark, charcoal eyes scrutinizing every move, they were familiar to the blond, all of them, but it seems as if he had merely met the Uchiha for the first time, he took it all in. The images, the attitude…he needs to remember exactly how it has been, like the way he remembered his touch for the very fist time. He needed to replay it in his mind afterwards in futile attempt to keep his memories alive…even for once. The way his lashes flutter when he closes his eyes in contentment. His ivory skin that on that very moment glistened under the glow of the new-born stars of the Queen of the night, hugging him in an aura of resembling the blue sky…

The heavens…

Because, even after all hell he had been through, he was and will always be the one man from whom Naruto could catch a glimpse of paradise.

"S-Sasuke." He whispered to himself, and yet words are difficult to contain at these moment that it leaked out beyond the blankets of existence that almost everyone in the vicinity heard it, although none were in the mood to note the longing accompanying that simple name.

Sasuke blinked his eyes a few times before he tilted his head to the other side and questioned, as a retort, the most painful thing Naruto had ever heard spoken to him all through his life.

…

And everything just seemed to stop.

…

"_**Who are you?"**_

End Flashback

_Why can't we risk our lives _

_For something that we can't deny?_

_We try to run from something_

_  
We don't know…we don't know_

_Is this reality?_

_-Hale-  
_

**Chapter Three: Life Support**

_He smiled at me ever lovingly. _

The blond boy wiped the tears away from his eyes and cheeks using the hem of his sweat shirt then, hurriedly looking up at the stage, he waved at the young man who had both feet fixed on the ground, staring back at him. The charcoal-haired boy's passive demeanor was reduced to rubble for a split second before he nodded curtly, acknowledging the blond with so much as a fleeting fancy before he descended from the top stage. In his mind, he finally remembered the dope's name, and it is so peculiar for him to do so, out of the hundreds of kids he had ever been acquainted with in the neigborhood.

_Uzumaki, Naruto._

Sasuke smiled inwardly at the sound of the name, unsuspecting that for the first time after the unfortunate event with Itachi…he had done so.

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Sasuke took another slow step forward, his eyes never leaving the stranger's face. The question came as fast as it had gone. He had heard his own harsh voice saying it without even thinking it over. He must be meticulous with what he says or asks for anything could be used against him. Trust no one. He had lived by with those three words as his life-long breathing mantra. But all his years of being the leader of Shadow Country, having perfected the art of dealing with other people, fell useless in the eyes of this man.

**Who are you?** That was a question that deceived a thousand kingdoms; the ostensibly naïve allusion to fatal lies. The question once incapable of bothering him now sends hundreds of searing pain within him.

Scrutinizing the stranger, Sasuke took another small step forward. The stranger's blond hair fell sloppily on his forehead, cutting his eyebrows and perfectly oval sky-blue eyes. The wild mane cascaded down his temples down to his tan and scarred cheeks, framing them in the most splendid manner that epitomizes perfection in singularity. The stranger's eyes were fixed on him, as if unable to believe he _was _really there, and Sasuke could see the wild heaving of his chest as he breathed deep.

_Was I the one who cause him so much fear?_

"Who are you?" he repeated, glancing at his wife who seem to recoil from the distance, her head shaking from left to right as if warning him of someone so vehemently dangerous. A feral animal, per chance, but he doesn't see anyone. The only thing his line of vision could accommodate at the moment is the sight of a tall, lean young man whose eyes captivated him for a tacit reason.

"I-" the stranger began, his eyes thrown to the ground at his feet. Sasuke easily recognized the anxiety in his tone but he dismissed it for the instance it came. It is in this conspicuous reality that he decided to wrap himself within the deemed silence and remain in there for a while as he studied the whole concept of the figure which stands before him.

"Sasuke, yamero! Please, don't listen to him!" the cherry-pink haired girl almost cried out, ushering him towards the manor. "Don't trust him!"

"It's alright, Sakura, I can handle this." He responded, a mere three yards away from the blond demigod. "What are you doing here?" the query was now turned to Naruto in the instance. Then silence seems to take the reins once again.

"I—I was just...Uzumaki, Naruto." The young man replied in protocol, "I—I believe I have…mistaken you and your wife for somebody else and I just—I deeply apologize for the trouble I have caused…"

"You have trespassed to my home because you have mistaken us for somebody else?" his voice was sarcastic, the ego of his for not believing what he hears first without further investigation screams for clarification, and so he needed to delve in further. "Not so credible, Uzumaki, Naruto."

Naruto nodded, hanging his head in the air. "I must be going." Naruto took a swift full turn, attempting to breakaway from such compromising situation. His heart had been beating so fast he was threatened it might burst.

_It really is him. Sasuke is alive…but **my** Sasuke…had long been gone. _

It would have been better of Sasuke had verbally insult him and spat into his face that he was a mere rubbish—a plaything he pleasured himself with before—that Naruto was head on nothing to him…that the **_past_** never mattered…that Naruto was his **_little china doll_**. But to deny he ever knew him…Naruto couldn't hurt more.

The hand around his arm took Naruto out of his reverie. The touch of the flesh on his sent shockwaves through him that he jumped backward as he came face to face with the one who held him and had let go just as fast. Even Sasuke himself felt it, the strange friction, the embers of fire that came alive with the touch of their flesh against the other.

Sasuke's eyes widened with surprise at his body's reaction, but more or so when the blue eyes gazed on him ever so softly, near to the edge of begging him to let go but asking him not to at the same time. At this point Sasuke realizes the danger of ever crossing path with an enemy…if this demigod really is one.

"Wait…do I know you?" he asked once again before he could even hold his tongue.

"The one who ever knew me here is dead." The blond replied, his innocent azure pair of eyes mutating into fires of ember in the twilight, sending sparks of masked hopelessness behind anger. Then, realizing the mistake that ran down from his tongue, Naruto pulled his arm away and faced the couple who both mirrored the same pallid expression, though both do so at different reasons.

_Don't deny me Naruto._

_Don't leave me…_

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"N-Naruto…" he focused all of his attention into pushing the tears back behind his eyes. It kills him, the emptiness that holds sovereignty amidst the silence of the plain. Calmness rushed to comfort him but all it ever really did was to suffocate him in agony.

The wind blew relentlessly from the east, converging in with the coldness of winter and Sasuke sat, his eyes penetrating through the fuzzy light-headedness that came upon him by staring at the orange glow of the flame coming from the middle of the camp. The embers were dying slowly and the mute upbringing of darkness is finally settling in places where light had once been.

"Forget about him, Sasuke-kun." Haruno, Sakura, his one girl teammate sat down on his side. Placing a hand on his shoulders, Sasuke turned to look behind him, allowing the darkness of the shadows to hide his pain from her.

"I'm trying." He whispered, his voice laced with sorrow none could deceive. Sakura ran her soft green eyes on her teammate, making sure he stays where he is; within her sight.

Sakura sighed, staring at him in false pretense. "He's gone, and so is everything we've ever fought so hard for. We failed him, and Konoha as well."

"No…" he replied, letting the girl's arms wound around his shoulders in the almost-embrace.

"I failed him, Sakura." He turned to her at last, burying his face at the crook of her neck. "I always fail the only ones who ever _loved _me…"

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It was the end of the world for me. The battle between Sasuke and the Akatsuki rages on but what was I? I was Uzumaki, Naruto, the goofy, unreliable, F flat student who crouches on mud covered in thick coat of blood as I watch my beloved fight for his life. Everyday I wondered who I really am in this world. Yes, I am the vessel of the demon Nine-tails, but what is really _my _role in this conspiracy? I have nothing to offer but my stupid ability that is way below theirs. I am not a prodigy. I am not even close to being one, so I knew Sasuke lied when he told me I am a great Nin, and that I have the potential to become the Hokage someday. He love me and that's all he could say to comfort me. He regressed in assuring me of a future I knew was impossible, inconceivable for a child of my status. I am just an ordinary kid in and out with nothing to give but himself, his life or nothing at all.

I scanned the area of carnage, could hear the hollow cries of the warriors that fell on their blood. I felt cold and I shivered in fear. I am facing death within the blank eyes of these men, and someday I shall be one. I am weak, and the weak shall die first. The strong take from the weak, and the weak take from the mud, and I am in mud goddamn it! Jesus on high, how close can you get!

So I settled somewhere being a jerk and an idiot. I feel like I'd rather be an idiot instead, so I got up, grabbed a kunai and started on being the hero I thought I never was.

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_It feels so cold when it rains_

_When it pours from the heaven like tears of pearl_

_That had broken free from my grasp._

_The rain had been a witness when I first demanded a kiss._

_But I also cried underneath it._

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"N—Naruto!" incredulously, he repeated the syllables that formed in his head, sizing them up in the instance he heard himself pronounce them.

The blond's façade faltered for a short while after Sasuke pronounced every syllable of his name correctly and intelligibly. For a moment's notice, Naruto wanted to run his hand on his Sasuke's lips, evaluating if he had really spoken the name that came out his mouth but he refrained himself from it. There is no need to be so vulnerable…deep within he knew Sasuke would never care. Sasuke would never…Sasuke _could _ never…

"What brings you here?" Sasuke calmed himself down and finally forced out the question he knew so well would end his dreams. "What brings you to this desolate village, if you knew those who had ever known you are dead?"

"I was on a very urgent errand that concerns none of you." The blond replied casually, lowering his head and turning his gaze on the ground but even in doing this, he knew the raven-haired man's eyes were still glued on him. The thought was enough to make his bones shiver and his instincts to cry out for his embrace. "I apologize for the trouble I have brought into your household. I must be on my way."

"How could we be sure you are not a spy from another village and had not come to meddle with our affairs?" the Uchiha asked, keeping his pace steady and low. The stranger in front of him raised his eyes in level with his and bowed courteously.

"You can have my life now if that's what you want." Naruto replied with so much strength in his voice it even moved Sakura the way it has not done before. She peered silently behind her husband, watching the former comrade converse with them with such uniquely defined protocol that Sakura almost doubted it is Naruto, the dope and the usually absent-minded team mate she once shared a part of her life with.

"B-but…" she stammered as the blond's gaze shifted to her. "Y-you can't be serious, could you?"

The blond smiled at her notion. "Earlier you tried to kill me. What was it in the wind that made you change your mind so?"

"N-nothing. I just don't think you are the kind to speak such outrageous words." She snapped bitterly as she held on to her husband's arms. "He tried to assault me. What else do you need to know about him, Sasuke-san? Let the guards deal with him fast!"

Sasuke turned to his wife with a surprised look in his eyes, then he gave Naruto a searching look. This stranger tried to attack Sakura? But what had she done? There was something in his eyes that suggests otherwise—something in his façade that shows pain and suffering—something suggestive of his true purpose. But what?

Sasuke had been deep in his state of mind when a loud noise interrupted them from a few yards away. Three figures appeared from behind the blond god and each of them were wearing masks and appears to be hostile. Instinctively, he drew Sakura far behind him, using his body to shield her away from any sudden attacks. Naruto had been swift in his stance as well. A second later, he has his back facing the Uchiha couple, a katana drawn in front of him.

"Uzumaki, Naruto?" a woman's voice resounded throughout the empty spaces, bouncing back hauntingly around them. "It is better if you come with us peacefully."

The one standing in the middle stepped forward casually, holding out his hand towards them. "You have broken the law of our respected Hokage, Uzumaki, and she asked us to bring you back immediately for custody."

"She had insisted that if ever you resist, we are allowed to use force against you and those who seek to protect you." A husky voice interjected, which, apparently came from the last of the three masked figures.

"No. She lied to me." The raven-haired's attention shifted back to the blond man. There was that something again, this time present in his voice. There was melancholy in it that, though he couldn't determine the reason, he could feel coursing through his veins. "She lied to me. She cannot have me back alive. Ever."

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I wondered where he could be. I have been alone for so long I already feel so empty. It has been a week since we had dealt with the Akatsuki, a week since my beloved had won his life's gamble. I was with him in his victory. I laughed with him, cried with him…and there he kissed me. He kissed me so passionately that I kissed him back with all the love I could muster. When he pulled away from me, he smiled and lovingly caressed my forehead with his thumb. I grazed it in the whole course of the fight and it's still bleeding. He wiped the blood away gently and smiled back to admire me. I couldn't help it. I haven't seen him so happy before. It made my heart bleed with so much intensity I thought I was going to die. It made my mind burn with so many doubts and fears for the future. He's the only one who could do this to me. He can make me cry and laugh all at the same time and it felt so good.

He had finally eliminated his brother, the murderer, the fiend who perpetually tormented him in his dreams. But I knew deep inside he had one final desire, and that is to revive the lost clan. He is the only one who remains in the proverbial garden now, the only one who could bear children and start the foundation of the Uchiha clan. But he told me, whispered in my ears as he softly ran the tip of his fingers over the bare back of my neck, that he loves me. I told him I love him as well, but I felt like a monster to try and take away his only dreams. He and I are not—nor ever—made for each other. With me he will never produce heirs. With me he wouldn't be happy, because he'll regret. In the future I know he will. But I love him, I love him so much but couldn't let him go. So I grabbed him back into my arms and closed my lips upon his. I wanted him to stay forever. I want the world to know that he is mine and I am his, but how could I when I know thousands will despise me for my conscious foolishness.

The velvety feel of the water cascading down my flesh felt nice. I pulled my knees closer to my chest and buried my face in them. I cried. That was all I could do at the moment. Cry and scream mutely until I couldn't cry and scream any longer. Why do I feel so dirty? So used? Or maybe I really am filthy and tainted. Maybe I was so wrong to think I'd ever be loved by him again. Maybe I was an abhorrent fool to try and own him when I know he shouldn't be. I was selfish, I know I was...but I want him with me, in me.

Every night he would climb to my bed and wake me from my deep slumber. He would just sit there watching me without ever uttering a word. He would sit there caressing my body, touching me everywhere he pleases. Oftentimes I would watch him in his ministrations, studying how delicate he looked like as the moon shine upon his pale face. I would sit back and wonder how fragile his skin seems to be, how extremely beautiful and feral he appeared with the fabric of his thin clothing clinging to his shoulders and chest in every drop of sweat. I would merely look him in the eye and feel his hands roaming around me, memorizing every inch of me. We would barely sleep, but when I do, he wouldn't be there when I wake up. I would climb off the bed and follow the trail of his scent—which was so much like jasmine—towards his room. And there I would find him lying comfortably in bed, sleeping, probably dreaming about how he wanted the world to be. I would sneak in and watch him sleep. I would run my fingers along his face, his nose, his jaws and his desirable lips. I would kiss him softly as not to wake him then leave and pretend it never happened.

We have kept the relationship between us for so long before he decided to reveal it to the others. Of course I was scared they'd hate me, but they didn't. I was so happy for the two of us. But now the time I dread has come. He was nowhere in sight. Nowhere close to me that I feel so alone, so isolated. My beloved had deserted me.

Then I heard him chuckle. I look up from the bathtub and saw him blocking the door. He was smiling so genuinely at me, his eyes studying me against the moonlit room. He muttered something about him taking care of a burial—his dear brother probably—then he stooped down and kissed me. I followed him with my gaze when he stood up and eased himself off his coat, then his upper garments first. I could feel my cheeks heating up as I watched him, trailing behind his skillful fingers as he took off what was left of his cloths and folded them neatly on top of the sink. He helped me up as he gracefully step inside the shower with me. I wrapped my arms around him as he kissed me once again with that undying fervor he had always possesses, feeling, wanting him deeper pressed against my mouth, my tongue, my flesh, my heart, my sex and everywhere I wanted him to be. I felt his tongue colliding with mine, dancing in a strange unity that bind me to him. He pulled off suddenly then playfully bit my lower lip until it bled. He tasted its coppery tang with his tongue, chuckling everytime I whimper at his touch.

He pushed my arms off him as he turned me around, kissing me savagely all over my neck, then down my back. He did this a lot of times before he pushed me harder towards the wall and eased himself within me. I cried out in pain when he did this but I tried to shut down the noise and let him have his way. The pain and the feeling of ultimate pleasure converges, numbing me. Everything felt as if the world has vanished and only he and I remained. There was this emotion locked within me that screams to be freed and as I held on tighter to it, it tried to scramble out of grasp and swimming further towards the surface.

"It hurts." I managed to utter in between breathing as I desperately tried to cling to the wall. His thrusts were so powerful, so menial I wanted to push him off me.

"I'm sorry." I heard him reply behind me. He kissed the area behind my ears and slowed his movements, waiting for me to adjust with his intruding limb. He pulled out of me for a second and helped me shift back facing him then he began thrusting in and out of me again. At this rate I knew I already lost myself that I began crying so hard as I wrap my arms around his shoulders and my legs around his waist. I buried my face deep within the nook of his neck. I was crying so bitterly that he had to whisper consoling words into my ears as he take himself deeper and deeper within me. I feel the pleasure stimulating my senses, yet my pain, my own dread obfuscates the delectable feeling of carnal pleasure that courses through my body. All I could think of is him being there, then all of the sudden, I couldn't touch him anymore.

I could feel him move inside me, hear his moans and feel his lips brushing against my neck but I couldn't quite comprehend what was going on. I was so deep into my chasm of sorrow I was even at lost when he touched me in that burning part of my body and began pumping up and down.

"Ah…Sasuke-san…please…" I cried into his shoulders as the rhythm ascended into savagery. I heard myself cry out his name a little too forcefully when I came all over his hand. A second later, I heard him grunt as he spilled himself within me, but still, I couldn't let him go. I wanted him to stay in my arms forever. I want him to love me forever, to never let me go. But he had to, and he did. He step back away from me and studied my face for a while, then he tilted it up with his fingers and smiled. He asked me what's wrong but I merely shrugged and kissed him lightly on the cheek as I got out of the shower, grabbed a towel and left him behind.

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"End this right now, Sasuke, end this or I will." he whispered so fatally beautiful in his ears, ignoring the tears that traveled down from dark eyes as silently as possible.

"What do you want me to say, Naruto?" he asked, his voice full of self-loathing. "Do you want me to admit the fact that I love you?"

"But I don't, Sasuke. I don't feel the same way about you anymore."

"I still do! Tell me you're lying, Naruto! Please, don't leave me…"

"You're nothing."

"Don't deny me, Naruto. Don't leave me."

Silence. The wind whispered solemnly in a symphony of a requiem.

"I never _loved _you."

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_Naruto! Naruto where the fuck are you! Naruto, can you hear me? Sakura, Sakura I can't see him! Where the hell is he? Sakura! Please help me find him! Naruto! Naruto! _

_  
NARUTO!_

_No, stop it, Sasuke! He's gone. He's gone. Why can't you see that! Naruto's gone. Stop it! It's hopeless. He's dead. You can never find him. He won't hear so stop calling. I'm here. I'm right here._

_No, he's not dead and you're wrong Sakura, he can hear me. He's alive, I know it. I can feel it. He can't die. He told me he won't leave me. He won't die. I would not have let him. Sakura…_

_I…_

…

_I love him._

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"You're stubborn, Naruto. What prize do you expect to win? You're already dead, aren't you?" a teasing voice taunted him beyond recognition, but Naruto merely stared at the Anbu's in front of him. So Tsunade-san's too desperate to bring him home she'd even employed Anbu's to fetch him. Well what a luck. Now he's declared as a missing Nin for crying out loud! So Tsunade's in on this. He wondered how long has she had him playing on her fingers and it made him want to hurt.

"I _was _dead." He muttered before he attacked in an awfully god-like speed. The female Anbu launched into the air and threw projectiles at him, which he easily dodged with his katana. The taller of the males took this as an advantage to slash out from behind but Naruto had been quicker than him. He turned 360 degrees and high-kicked him to the chest that the Anbu stumbled back towards the ground.

The woman made a couple of swift seals which invoked flames that ran down her arms. She aimed them towards the blond demigod, who, in return performed the rite of seals which immediately extinguishes the flame projected by the woman.

Sasuke watched as the fight between the strangers progresses, wondering so profusely why nobody seemed to have paid them any attention at all. What fascinated him though, is the blond one who appears to be fighting not for the sake of his life but for the end of it. Once again he found his own eyes trying to catch a glimpse of the sapphire eyes, trying to conjecture an answer as to what blinds this man so.

Then he saw it. A stray kunai from the third stranger aimed directly at the blond. Without thinking, and out of mere impulse, Sasuke threw himself down into the battlefield and single-handedly caught the kunai in his hand. Naruto spun around in the second he saw Sasuke in the field, then and there time seemed to have been caught in mid-air. He was there, really there, right behind him, fighting with him. Fighting _for _him.

In a moment's eternal curtain, Sasuke saw the three Anbu's retreating at his interference. The other one cursed so loudly before he did so. He was about to chase them, and had already prepared to leave when he heard a sudden gasp from behind him.

There, right infront of him, is Sakura crouching in front of the blood-drowned figure personifying the beauty of Death himself.

**End of third chapter!**

**Notes:** Please review and thanks again! I love yah all! And I'll try so hard to review some typo's. I haven't proof-read this one. Thankies! I'm already half-way the fourth chapter. I promise, true this time, that I'll get it out by next week! Mwah! Bye!


	4. Blind

**Notes: **Thanks to those who still supported this fic! I love you!

**You Belong To Me**

(SasuNaru)

By: Feralmxstyque

Flashback: Chapter Three: Life Support

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"I still do! Tell me you're lying, Naruto! Please, don't leave me…"

"You're nothing."

"Don't deny me, Naruto. Don't leave me."

Silence. The wind whispered solemnly in a symphony of a requiem.

"I never _loved _you."

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Sasuke watched as the fight between the strangers progresses, wondering so profusely why nobody seemed to have paid them any attention at all. What fascinated him though, is the blond one who appears to be fighting not for the sake of his life but for the end of it. Once again he found his own eyes trying to catch a glimpse of the sapphire eyes, trying to conjecture an answer as to what blinds this man so.

Then he saw it. A stray kunai from the third stranger aimed directly at the blond. Without thinking, and out of mere impulse, Sasuke threw himself down into the battlefield and single-handedly caught the kunai in his hand. Naruto spun around in the second he saw Sasuke in the field, then and there time seemed to have been caught in mid-air. He was there, really there, right behind him, fighting with him. Fighting _for _him.

In a moment's eternal curtain, Sasuke saw the three Anbu's retreating at his interference. The other one cursed so loudly before he did so. He was about to chase them, and had already prepared to leave when he heard a sudden gasp from behind him.

There, right infront of him, is Sakura crouching in front of the blood-drowned figure personifying the beauty of Death himself.

End Flashback

_I was young but I wasn't naïve_

_I watched helpless as he turned around to leave_

_And still I have the pain I have to carry_

_A past so deep that even you could not bury if you tried_

_-LifeHouse-_

**Chapter Four: Blind**

He was lying there in his own pool of blood as Sakura cradled him in her arms. Blood…it was everywhere he looked, everywhere.

No, wait, he was merely lying there and Sakura crouched lowly in front of him. There were blood on her chest, and he was…he got up in time to catch her in his arms.

I stood there for how long I couldn't remember. I was watching the scene that unfolds in front of my eyes mutely. The world had swallowed me up in a vortex of silence as I stare at him. I could see his lips moving, calling for my help. I could see Sakura's limp form in his arms but I was frozen, not moving and barely breathing. What the hell was happening here? Who were that men? And Sakura—why is she bleeding? Why does she look so pale? And why can't I move? My body had turned slack and uncontrollable at the moment, my mind half-wishing I could wake up from the nightmare, a part of it wanting to stay buried for the rest of my life.

I shifted my gaze back to him. He's checking Sakura's vitals, his frown suggesting they weren't good enough. He took off his coat and draped it around her body and strongly carried her in his arms. He's still yelling at me but I couldn't read his mouth, I couldn't comprehend anything. I don't want to. He got up and walked up in front of me, and his eyes, they seemed to call out to me in help and I immediately snapped out of my reverie, as if his eyes were something only I could obey.

"Sasuke, we need to get her to the hospital. She's hurt badly. Where is the nearest hospital? Answer me! Don't stand there! Quick, come on!" I heard him yell instantaneously. His shirt were now bathed in Sakura's blood and my first impulse was to get myself together and help him, but I was a coward. Fear had plunged a knife into my soul. I stood transfixed, my eyes on the ground, at his feet.

"Oh my god…Sakura." I heard myself mutter as I touch her hand lightly. It was cold. So cold in fact I retracted my fingers swiftly, afraid it may overwhelm my senses.

"Don't just stand there or she'll die! Where the fuck is the nearest hospital, Uchiha!" Uzumaki, Naruto shouted, his eyes screaming for me to get over the shock, but I couldn't move. I could only answer him in limited words of null comprehension.

"It's—It's right over the east from the manor." I mumbled out, my arms shaking. Why am I so scared? Of the situation, or was it the blood? Why do I feel so uncomfortable? I had dreamt a lot of dreams prior to these events, most of them concerning deaths of people I haven't seen before but _known_ somewhere. I could hear screams of pain, imagine myself drowning in euphoria in a senseless touch of an entity I could not recognize, feel the lashing pain of darkness as it consumes me. Everytime then, I would wake up frightened and aghast. "I can take you there in fifteen."

"No, I'll do it." He hissed in anger then he took off. He leapt off his feet and jumped towards the trees and from branches to branches in so much grace while holding Sakura close to his chest. But I still couldn't do anything.

Sakura.

Please be alright.

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"Please it's an emergency! Can anyone get her a doctor, please!" the blond man wailed loudly, clutching a bloodied woman in his arms protectively. The spectators watching the scene had been increasing in number now, but the man ignored them and continued to demand for help. A nurse went over and asked him to sign a couple of papers for the patient but he cursed rudely and shoved the documents to the floor.

"This is no fucking time for some goddamn paper works! Uchiha, Sakura is in great danger! If you don't get any doctor for her I swear to god I will kill you!"

The nurse looked at him incredulously. "This is Uchiha, Sakura?" she asked, then reluctantly called for assistance. Two other nurses helped Sakura off Naruto and carefully placed her on a stretcher. Naruto could see the pained expression on his ex-teammate's face as the nurses wheeled her away towards the emergency room. Her cherry pink hair were covered in blood and colors had been drained from her face. Uzumaki, Naruto watched silently as they took her away, never taking his eyes off even after she passed through the double doors.

He sat back down on one of the benches, head buried deep in the palm of his hands.

He had just proven that Uchiha, Sasuke still lives…had met his son and wife, a former teammate, Haruno, Sakura, who apparently hated him less than he expected to be able to take a kunai for him. She tried to help him, but was unprepared, was surprised and it hit her on the chest. That was supposed to be Naruto's. That kunai was meant to stop his stubbornness, not hurt Sakura. Guilt started accumulating in his chest as he prayed for Sakura's safety. She still cared for him, still sees him as a friend. What the hell had happened here? He almost thought Sakura hated him, despised him. But she was ready to die for him…how could he let this happen?

And what of Sasuke? What of him? Why couldn't he remember Naruto? What really did transpired here? He haven't got a clue.

This is too much. Haruno, Sakura. Uchiha, Sasuke. Uchiha, Izuki. And Uzumaki, Naruto. In a mixed up world, Naruto couldn't figure out who was who, and which was which. Maybe he was really ignorant of something. And of what it was, Naruto wanted to find out. He wanted to solve this riddle once and for all.

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"Sakura?" he paused, looking deeply within the kunoichi's green apple eyes. Naruto had never seen her so serene and calm altogether. She had been wearing a green yukata that complements her sad orbs, her pink hair plaited with black pins holding the strays in place.

"Yes." She replied, her hands softly laid on her chest. "I lost to you haven't I?" she smiled at him, her sorrowful smile.

"Sakura, please…"

"He loves you. Who can blame him? A dope like you is easier to love than a know-it-all like me." She laughed half-heartedly, thinking back to the times when Kakashi-sensei berates Naruto for all the mess he usually gets himself into. Sakura would just pout at him and shrug, thinking how much of a loser could the blond idiot get. And Sasuke, the oh so precious Uchiha, would look away and frown, holding on to the tacit understanding that Naruto was a disappointment. That Naruto is a league away from him.

That Naruto is the only one who had captured his heart.

"He loves you." She repeated, more to herself than to Naruto. "He loves you so much. Don't try hurting him you dope. Or else—"

"Or else what?" Naruto stiffened at her remark. "Or else what, Haruno?"

"Or else I'll take him away from you."

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Naruto almost jumped from his seat when he felt a soft tap on his shoulders. Still a little bit groggy, he looked up and saw a jagged image of a man wearing a black cloak looking down at him. Then his heart almost skipped a beat when he realized who it was.

Uchiha, Sasuke stooped down on him, his charcoal-colored eyes reflecting his worry and confusion.

"How is she?" he asked in a soft monotone as he sat beside the blond who nearly toppled over his seat, if not for a small amount of decency left in his mind. "Is she alright?"

Naruto nodded softly, eyes tracing Sasuke's features lightly, searching for a hidden hint that might have gone astray. There was none.

"Thank you for helping her. I was—I was…I couldn't…" he stuttered, staring at his fingers in protest. "I never thought it would—how could it—", he paused then he turned to Naruto, eyes boring through him. "Who are _you_? Why would she risk her life saving _you?"_

_It's me, you idiot. It's Naruto and you forgot? _

"I was once a friend." He answered while trying so hard to keep his sapphire orbs in level with the Uchiha's dark ones. Sasuke smiled sadly, and that one gesture took Naruto by surprise. He looked down once again, eyes closed this time.

"I'm sorry. I just couldn't remember anything from seven years ago." He whispered. "I don't know anything about my past. All I know is that I'm here, and she was here, and…everything…I'm sorry. I shouldn't be bothering you with all these useless nonsense."

Naruto tried to listen carefully, asking for answers to the riddles he himself couldn't understand.

"I'm sorry." He spoke slowly, watching Sasuke bow his head in dismay. God, so much had changed about him and Naruto wasn't there to witness it. How he wished—how he longed to wrap his arms around this man. But he couldn't. Sasuke couldn't remember him anymore. Sasuke—the one he loves—is gone, long dead even before his physical form has, and will.

"I'm sorry I couldn't help." He repeated in silence. "I didn't know, Sasuke." He added so softly in his voice full of velvety pain. The wound crept deeper into his soul ever slowly. No, he couldn't just tell him they were lovers before. The way he worries about Sakura, the way he talk about her, Sasuke loves her. Sasuke loves Haruno, Sakura and had even married her. Who the hell is Uzumaki, Naruto in this perfected picture of a pleasant family? A strong father who cares for his child, a mother who looks after her child and husband, and a child who brightens the day in his careless manner. Naruto could never ruin such ethereal beauty just to revive what was now far lost.

"I wish I knew."

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"Are you ok?"

I cast my eyes up from the ground and distinctively frowned. Here's another one of those abominations again coming to haunt me down. I tried so hard to block them out, but it seems as if they have been drawn to me in my usual silent 'charm'. Damn them and everyone else! Why can't they see me more of who I am than where I have come from? Yes, sure, my brother is a famous Nin, but isn't Itachi so very much different from Sasuke? I AM not my brother and shall never be! So when I looked up at the child, I easily pasted my i-don't-want-anything-to-do-with-you attitude to shoo him off. But the boy merely smiled, holding out his hand for me.

"I can get up when I want to, thank you." I snapped, throwing my bangs away from my eyes. I had never really learned how to appreciate the grandeur of having someone to ask me those simple questions so I tried to give myself a little patronage of courtesy to push him away. I just never thought he could be so persistent even for the sake of asking.

"Why? I was just trying to be friendly?" he told me sincerely. He held his hand away and frowned; "You look frail." He walked over to the empty swing beside me and sat down. I could feel his wandering innocent and curious eyes trailing down every inch of my body.

"It's none of your business blond boy so leave me alone." I said to him rather indifferently but I did not dare look over at his direction. I don't want to give him the pleasure of being worthy to be spoken in level with mine. Arrogance? I am simply defending my emotions by building walls of cold insensitivity around it. I do not want to be pawn in a game of hide and seek with loneliness ever again. I do not aim for anyone's pity but my own. I can drown within my very limits but I would not hear if somebody dies with me. I would rather be alone.

"Hey, wait a minute, this is my territory! You are in MY playground and in MY swing so you have the right to tell me who you are!" he protested. His shouting caught me off-guard. This boy sure knows how to defy ignorance and venerate the hysterical. I looked around me and found nobody there. It was just me and him. The playground is completely deserted.

What does he want from me now? Could he not just leave me to parry the fiend of self-pity? Never in my entire life had I met such creature whose own existence seems to serve the purpose as to exist in order to give happiness and comfort to those who needs it most. I knew I wasn't thinking logically when it came to my mind. All I know is that I am a human being affected by some kind of stimulus which, at some very unknowable but clear point, is now simply tugging very delicately in that part of me which I have not relinquished to anyone to bother. Its beating is enough to tell me something is amiss here. So even though my mind orders me not to respond to his queries, my mouth had jumped in a minute's breath to betray it.

"I'm—" I choked out trying to get the words smoothly off its way. "My name is Uchiha, Sasuke."

His face lighted a bit and his fingers pointed out to me in accusations I never knew about. And so he recognized me now—with my surname and all—who wouldn't? Some other idiot maybe? And perhaps that had broken down my thoughts into simple and inelastic conclusions that this blond is the same as those other children who calls me an 'Uchiha' instead of my name. He's nothing but a moron who gets nothing out of life.

"You are THAT Uchiha!" he beamed. I almost thought he was the same as those other kids who drool around with me but everything about him changed when he said, "Well, you don't look kind of tough. You sure you're ok? Maybe you need somebody to talk to. Hey, I don't have any friends. Maybe you could be mine?"

I looked up at him and studied him for a second. Then, after what seemed like forever, I smiled.

"Y-Yes, I mean, sure. I-It would be nice." I told him, "W-What's your name?"

"You've got to remember this, for I am the next Hokage! Uzumaki, Naruto! Tee-hee." He giggled childishly. I never knew a boy could giggle the way he does but I shrugged it off and smiled. So he's Uzumaki, Naruto. I know about him. He is despised by the people because he carried within him the demon, Nine-tails. He was the one they would spit on and desecrate. He was the one born out of great sorrow and raised with sop much fear. I could see it in his eyes, his pain, his memory of a life better forgotten, his tears for rotten meat that needed to be taken in place for decent meals, his pain…I realized I want to share it. I want to take it in my arms and drink from it his loneliness, his hurt, his denial, his love. What the hell am I thinking! How could he make me feel this way? How could one bastard make me _feel?_

"Uzumaki, Naruto?" I repeated, memorizing every syllable in a tender embrace of the wind. He offered me his hand once again, this time, he smiles as well. I looked up and met his azure blue eyes. They were so enchanting, so full of hope and love he had so long wanted to share. And then he grins, his lips playfully portrayed upon his face. I was so deeply captivated by such profound vision and had wanted nothing to ruin it, but every dream ends when the dreamer wakes, don't they? And right at that very moment, I had to wake up hence I shall be trapped in a wasteland of forged dreams evermore.

When I took his hands I knew my world shall never be the same again.

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How could I start this, this cliché or something? I don't really know. Was it suppose to be an unbearable kind of an opening statement? Well, I wish I knew better, but I'll try, I'll try to explain everything that has happened since I was six years old…starting from the day I went home from a kunai practice…yes, that's it. That's how I want to start this story, to speak every inch of it from my leverage…from my ideals…from the truth.

I was a child then…no…I cannot have it begin this way. You would know how it ends…you would know, because you had to, and because everyone else knows about this. You would just look at me with sympathy in your deep-shaded orbs. You would all try to comfort me. But that's not what I want for now. What I want is for my story to be told.

I was running as fast as I can. I was proud of myself for I have finally perfected the stunt my oh so great of a brother taught me. I was running so fast I never noticed how the world seem to appear strangely dark and cold. The noises had ceased playing their tune; life barely breathes but I was so happy, so proud of myself; so hopeful of warm smiles greeting me at home; so expecting my mother's usual kiss on the cheek, which in fact I loved so much though I used to tell her off; so wanting to have my father wrap his arms around me and lift me up into the air; so craving for that scarce attention from a brother who would muse my hair and poke me in the forehead while he turns his head away from me in a graceful, candid elegance. I was happy nonetheless and there's no other words left to describe it.

But, like a snap of a finger, I drowned in my own expectations. What I found were corpses lying on the street, blood all around me as if it's the most common thing there is. My feet took off into another series of running, but this time I was running for my life. One place came into my mind where I knew I could find comfort in the arms of those who cares for me. So I did, and when I got there, I pulled the doors opened and rushed in. I was calling out to whoever could hear me, my voice echoing in the unfeeling void of utter terror, but the answer never came.

I went out to the back of the house, in an adjacent room to where my final hopes lie. I never expected I was running into a death trap, and within its welcoming façade is a cue to the start of the nightmare I would suffer for the rest of my life.

I found them…on the floor…basking in the moonlight in a crimson colored carpet that was their blood. And I saw him. His eyes burning in hatred, in redeemed faith. I cried but not because I was scared, like he thought, but because I was numb and callous like himself. The tears are an ensign of nonchalance, for I cry not for them nor for my own but for him. For he was stupid and weak…for he let the heat of the anger crush his soul by going down in level of that which is a torn. I used to look up to him as my hero, my redeemer, but he was nothing but an apathetic murderer whose weakness is the one he boast as his strength. How demeaning really, and how foolish! His actions woken my slumber amidst the chaos of denial and truth. His sly, mischievous mistake woke the monster who hungered for power within me. Uchiha, Itachi made me what I am today, for he showed me how unreservedly wretched are those as he is. He made me lose my saviour, made me want to strive for the throne of a god.

It was a mistake he left me alive.

For years I endeavored for might and power that could destroy the man who created my obsession. I went against the well-being of all just to triumph over the past that transcends even my future. There was no turning back when facing an indomitable con, no turning back from the relentless flow of the tide. Itachi created a bond of invisible threads connecting me to his fate. I will be the one to cut that thread—that is not a dream but a fact. I wasn't going to deny anything. I wasn't going to say I hate him because he killed _our_ clan. I hate him not because I had to but because I terribly do.

I was being consumed slowly, eaten whole by the excruciating adherence to the truth. But then I met _him_ and in his eyes I saw a different kind of truth…something that speaks not of anger but of an unyielding emotion I knew not of. When he offered his hands for me to reach, I was taken aback and mourned over my disdain over his pathetic kind. But there was something in him that drew my reluctant fingers to want his flesh.

There was something so cruel, so destructive when I first respond to the throbbing ache within. It was deep, not easily unearthed and velveteen, like the touch of a lover's caress over the mute dead of the one he cherish. It was a feeling I never craved for before but ever present, inactive and undiscovered beneath my skin. There was profundity in it that made me want to bleed, to crush him beneath me that leaves me unknowing if I am crushing myself in the process. He was beautiful, so ethereal that I wanted him to be mine.

There was so much pain in his sapphire eyes, so much confusion that I wanted to drink from it and use it as an elixir to life. But I was armed with the aptitude of an avenger whose ready to risk a life not even worth living…but he, on the other hand desired only for a compassionate longing of someone to call a friend, armed with nothing but his wits that fails him so constantly. Was I even worth his kiss? For if measured, he is greater a person than I am, because he is a suffering god of innocence, while I am not but a boy venerated by millions, regarded a prodigy and ingenious, and yet so subtle, so weak to beg for the god's touch.

Then one night, away from the inquisitive eyes of the silver-haired jounin whom I had purported as a nuisance of the rare variety, and far, farther away from the pink-haired kunoichi, I went out to find him. I saw him in his room, sitting on his bed, albeit uncomfortably. His head bleeds from a cut, and his lips swollen from a laceration. When he saw me he stood up, his eyes looking through me with such contempt it even made me flinch. He grabbed his kunai and charged at me, but I was more agile than he was that I was able to deflect his attack and tackle him helplessly down to the floor of his bedroom.

I remembered him being so mad at me for no apparent reason. He was so saddened by the fact that I am better than he is, stronger and more powerful a being. I tried to hush him down, urging on comforting words I barely knew I could speak. He was better, had always been the stronger one. It is on top of everything that everyone we know often denies him. My demigod is more powerful than I, because he has a heart that can see, whence mine had drowned in my thirst for vengeance.

He told me he was losing his battle, that he can never be better. In a silence I told him he'd been winning all this time, because from the moment I saw him, he already won me.

I know not what happened next, but the silence was followed by a series of grunts and moans as I laid him on the bed, kissed him tenderly with my mouth open, tasting how sweet his tongue coated with his saliva could be. It was immense a feeling for he is what I wanted all along. He submitted to me willingly as I took off the rest of his clothing and threw it nonchalantly on the floor. He tried to complain about the cold as he grinned up at me, his slender tanned arms wrapping itself around my neck. His eager words were drowned the moment I placed myself on top of him, though, and he looked up at me with round, witty eyes, feeling the heat surge through him in return. I hungrily claimed his lips once again, making it a point to hear him moan my name. When I began to undress, he closed his eyes in an amusing gesture but I had to force him into opening them so he could see me. I brought him up, his awkwardly positioned thighs straddling me as I guided his hand to my chest, sliding it sensually downwards. He whimpered, whispering something about him being so inexperienced about this and I shut him up with a ferocious kiss that I knew would blow his mind away. His head fell back towards mine as he pulled away from the kiss causing his yellow tresses to drape down my face, sheltering my view of the outside world, creating a new distant universe only for the two of us. I took that time, when he stared at me so seductively, so possessively, to thrust into him, making him cry out in pain. We stayed frozen for a minute, with me deep inside him, before I gripped both of his legs and started rocking him back and forth against my own rhythm and then I watched him throw his head back, gripping my shoulders tightly as he screamed for my name all the while acknowledging how good I was at it.

When it was over, I laid him softly back on the bed, kissed him consolingly on his forehead before I ran my fingers against his sweat-covered hair. I tucked him in underneath the covers and bid him goodbye as I hurriedly donned back my clothes. With one last look at him, I silently closed the door and left him behind.

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"Uzumaki, Naruto?" he repeated, running a gentle finger on his forehead as he sat quietly, looking at the marbled floor of the hospital. The blond bowed his head in acknowledgement, though, resulting a silent pact between the two men. In the midst of tranquil guilt, dark eyes looked up in a sudden flare of emotion. He stood up in all grace which makes Naruto wonder how he could do such act without bothering so much, with an air of allotted ignorance in regards to his subordinates.

"I apologize, but I have to detain you for further questions." He whispered solemnly, and with a wave of a hand, three men, who were standing across the hallway approached them and seized the blond by the arms.

"It is not your fault. I would oblige myself."

"It has gone far enough for you to oblige." He replied, keeping his gaze downwards. "Forgive me."

"No, Uchiha." The kitsune interjected, his back turned away from the one man he loves, though ecstatically agonizing. He fought for clearance in his voice against the tremors of tears…

"Forgive _me._"

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I was shattered by silence. I watched him fall to the ground, saw the grisly bones of the undead reach out to devour him. I tried to move. I tried to keep my eyes open…to see…him one last time. I heard his screams in a reverberating metal scratching metal, my senses deemed to drown in apathy. I saw him _die._

He came back. I knew I failed and he came back. With him is not the fatal threat of death, but the pleasure to break. And he's breaking me in too many pieces I knew I shall never be whole again. He took away the missing part of my soul. He recreated me the way he did the night my clan was murdered. But this time he knew my pain, felt it even. I saw his crimson eyes looking down at me, with my blood splattered face and my numb lips. He brought his face down, chuckled, then kissed me softly. I couldn't move. I was too numb to even feel.

I failed him. I promised to protect my beloved, but my weakness prevailed.

When he killed him, I died, and the whole of the world died with me.

I heard him mutter incomprehensible words was he picked me up from the ground. I saw Sakura lying somewhere across me, her limbs in a tangle. She's hurt badly but I knew she's alive. But Naruto…

I felt his fingers against the null of my back, pressing his body closer to mine. He laughed softly, his kunai pointed at my throat.

" 'Dolls are beautiful because you see death in their eyes.' " he grinned, "I'd say they're more beautiful when they're broken."

And there I believed him. Again.

**End of Chapter Four!**

A/N: Shorter this time. I was in a process of college enrollment for the past few days so I was a bit not myself. Well, anyway, I hope you like this one! Please review! I would need that! And hey, Itachi's here, too! Gosh, I'd rape that guy! Kidding! Well, anyway, I don't know how to turn of the 'not accept anonymous reviews thing'. How do I do that? Well, enjoy 'cause the next chap would be much, much better and probably proof-read. Unlike this one! I've started on it! Please I beg you, if you drop by, give me at least a comment! Thanks!


	5. Unforgotten

**Notes: **I have received a couple of reviews from the past chapters and the most recent one ranting they're confused with the flow of thoughts of the characters in the story. Well, a lot of thank you's go out to you guys for pointing that out. Now, I have devised a way to help you through the flashbacks. It's called, 'sign guides'. Hah! Nonsense! But it'd be helpful, I promise. And as you can see, I'd like to shift from first person to third person at times when situations requires it so please bear with me. Other than that, I love you!

Legends:

/Jablablah../-flashback (Naruto's POV)

/Jablablah.../-flashback (Sasuke's POV)

_Italicized words_-emphasis or thoughts

Normal-present flow (I'd indicate if it's Sasuke or Naruto or whoever bastard is speaking. Without indications means third POV)

And Sakura won't be needing a POV because I'll kill her here. HAHAHAH…_evil grin _Because I hate her. And I want her massacred, ok!

**You Belong To Me**

(SasuNaru)

By: Feralmxstyque

Flashback: Chapter Four: Blind

/I was shattered by silence. I watched him fall to the ground, saw the grisly bones of the undead reach out to devour him. I tried to move. I tried to keep my eyes open…to see…him one last time. I heard his screams in a reverberating metal scratching metal, my senses deemed to drown in apathy. I saw him _die._

He came back. I knew I failed and he came back. With him is not the fatal threat of death, but the pleasure to break. And he's breaking me in too many pieces I knew I shall never be whole again. He took away the missing part of my soul. He recreated me the way he did the night my clan was murdered. But this time he knew my pain, felt it even. I saw his crimson eyes looking down at me, with my blood splattered face and my numb lips. He brought his face down, chuckled, then kissed me softly. I couldn't move. I was too numb to even feel.

I failed him. I promised to protect my beloved, but my weakness prevailed.

When he killed him, I died, and the whole of the world died with me.

I heard him mutter incomprehensible words was he picked me up from the ground. I saw Sakura lying somewhere across me, her limbs in a tangle. She's hurt badly but I knew she's alive. But Naruto…

I felt his fingers against the null of my back, pressing his body closer to mine. He laughed softly, his kunai pointed at my throat.

" 'Dolls are beautiful because you see death in their eyes.' " he grinned, "I'd say they're more beautiful when they're broken."

And there I believed him. Again./

_If I could I would turn_

_Just in time to see you cry_

_I'll drink your tears_

_Feast on your eyes_

_-iwonnadie-_

**Chapter Five: Unforgotten**

(Sasuke's POV)

I woke up to the cacophony of silence that swathed the night. I didn't know how long I slept, but the dimness, the exhaustion still present reminds me that it wasn't the end of my misery, not yet anyway. I came home a few minutes after midnight to check on Izuki and was about to drag myself out back to the hospital when my body unconsciously willed itself to break. All the thoughts of what happened that afternoon came flooding back to me, stealing my senses. After a pretty much normal day I came home to find my wife talking to a stranger, whom I presume she knew from her childhood years. The conversation got a little heated which proves the angle of them not being able to settle an old problem perhaps, and then I stepped in between them. After a couple of minute's talking though, three much more demeaning guests came into the picture, speaking in tongues of no sensibility and assailed us. No, to rightfully put it so, the strangers attacked the one who came to our doorstep, the bizarre, though quite familiar blond.

To speak for myself, I do remember a vivid picture of a young boy in my mind who does resembles him. It is what caught me off guard when I first laid my eyes on him. Going back to my mind's eye, the boy I see is about seven, tanned skin with a menial habit of boasting. In my distant consciousness I could even hear him laughing but I could not seem to reach him when I try to. His memory, his face, his voice…they were like water cascading down from my palm. The element that gives life escaping my grasp…He who gives me the reason to live…

When he turned to look at me I was numbed, almost rooted to the spot. There was something in his eyes that tells me he knew who I am. Not the one whom I have become, but someone in the past that even I could not bring myself to remember. I have in me pigments of dreams involving a small, unlikely house, two middle-aged couple and one teenage boy. In this reel of film, I was sitting on the floor over a tatami mat, my back to the wall facing these three people who were all talking in an endless dialogue only I could understand but wouldn't. Maybe they were my family. The couple might have been my mother and father, and the teenage boy could have been my brother. But who am I? I asked the blond stranger that question a few hours ago. But I was too weak, too frightened to ask myself that very same fatal query. I am at lost as to what to say in order to assure myself of a past I am denied. But in his eyes—in Uzumaki, Naruto's—I thought I saw a glimmer of recognition; a faint beacon of hope that maybe he could tell me who I am and where I came from. In his sapphire sky eyes I can see my past, my present and future. Oh god why do I feel so strange?

Seven years ago I woke up without anything to hold on to but a life. I was like a child, helpless and unprotected for I knew not the laws of the world in which I was bound to. A woman came and help me. She offered me a hand to reach out to and taught me a lot of things. She showed me how it is to live and forget; to push aside the desire to know and keep moving forward. We were led by fate to this god-forsaken village infested with creatures whom I deem not worthy to be called humans. That was the first time I felt _so_ alive…that first time I fought for a reason and without doubt. I am good at it I would have to say but I did not dwell any longer on any possibilities. Perchance it is a given talent, or a once inactive skill, but we did liberate the village. They were grateful for our help, offered us a place to stay and a home, a huge eccentric manor and a power to lead them. For seven years I came to respect the people and they to me and had turned the once poor and unwilling village to what it is today. And the woman, the one who took me into her care, the one Haruno, Sakura...she came to live with me as my wife but I could not say she taught me how to love. I do not think so because that is one emotion I felt only for my son and none at all. To my people and Sakura, it is devotion but love I entail only to Izuki, not even to myself. Perhaps it is a difficult emotion to recreate, if you can actually recreate it. It feels like it's something which died with me before I woke up. It's an emotion that drowned in the bellowed chasms of my nightmares and I cannot unearth it as easily as I thought I could, not with Sakura…but with him, perhaps…perhaps I loved him…before…

"Poppa?" a reticent voice further my cause to stay awake. I sat up from the chair behind the desk which I have fallen asleep unto so I could get a better view of the door. I saw Izuki peering between the gap on the door and the floor, his cheeks grazing the marble floor.

"Come in." I told him in a voice loud enough for him to hear. He got up from the floor and opened the door to my office donning a blue silk pajamas, his dark tresses muffled. He yawned and stretched before continuing his entrance.

"I saw the lights." He whispered as he came to sit down on a spare chair in front of the oak desk. "Where is Momma?"

I stared at him for a few minutes, my mind processing reasons as to what to say. How can I explain to him his mother is at the hospital, stable but still unconscious. I did not entertain the thoughts for long and decided against it. I would have to procrastinate. Izuki is a child, no matter how intelligent he may be. I don't think a child should be distressed with the intermittent events that unfolded in my eyes.

"What are you doing up at this time?" I asked him in a monotone voice, trying hard to sound more relaxed than how I feel. I fidgeted on the drawer of the desk just to avoid his stare. Izuki has a way with things. He would be a good leader someday.

"I can't sleep." He said, placing both arms on the oak desk, his chin lying lazily in between them. "Poppa, does Momma hate me?"

I was surprised at his question but tried to look not to. Instead, I leaned on the table and stared at him straight in the eyes. Izuki blinked but tried to catch up with me.

"Why would you ask, Izuki?"

He rolled his eyes to the side and sighed loudly. He annoys himself so easily, this boy. And I don't think I have to wonder where he got his ideals and attitude.

"Why does she yell at me? I just asked her something and she went berserk." He replied, hurt palpable in his tone. "It wasn't big or anything at all, just some minor detail."

"Minor what?"

"Like…well," he hesitated, "She warned me about telling you."

This time I was the one who rolled my eyes. I guess Izuki's mannerisms came mostly from me. Like father like son per se.

"Tell me. She won't have to know. I promise."

He got off the chair and walked around to sit on my lap. It was something he stopped doing thinking he's so much of a big boy to be cuddled but he usually do so in some occasion, especially when he can't sleep at night and I'm still working in the office. He would just sit on my lap and watch me write or read a book. He usually fall asleep soon afterwards.

"I asked her about what Megumi said." He said in a voice barely audible, twisting the end of his long-sleeve shirt. "It was something about a place."

I knitted my brows. "A place? Where?"

"That's exactly what I asked her. But then she started yelling at me, asking me if I told you, if anyone else knew…I was scared Poppa." He snuggled closer to my chest, his eyes closed. I could feel him tremble in fear against me, knew how he must have felt. Sakura could be so hard at times..

"Okay. What was your question?"

"I asked her where exactly Konoha is." He answered.

Konoha?

Why does that sound so familiar? There is something about the way Izuki spoke the name of that place that made my mind think. Konoha? It sounded…very familiar. But where did I hear it? Wait…one of the man who attacked us earlier said something about a Hokage.

_I will be the next Hokage! Duh, you shouldn't forget that name. I will be the best Hokage Konoha has ever seen!_

I was delirious by any chance, but I could remember, though faintly, about hearing those exact words from somebody before. But who spoke them and why do I know him? Is there at least a connection between him, this bizarre place and I? And that blond boy…are those his words? The ones I couldn't comprehend?

"Poppa? I met somebody." Izuki cut off, his head snapping back up. His round, lime eyes stared back at me excitedly.

"Really?" I asked, trying to be interested but not really. My thoughts ran along 'Konoha' and a certain 'Hokage'.

"Hey, and he knows you, too! I remember he caught my attention when I heard him say your name. I saw him in the forest and we talked. He looked really sad so I had to do all the useless chatting, but you see, he's really kind. He offered to help me and agreed to be my friend! His name is Uzumaki, Naruto, Poppa and he's really cool!"

Another shock jolted through me after he finished his sentence. Izuki had to poke me in the eye to call me back.

"Poppa, are you listening?" he pouted.

"Izuki, did you just say, " I paused to look at him, "Uzumaki, Naruto?"

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_In this world pity is a monster_

_Only reasons matter_

But reasons are overrated. I saw him on the ground, his near-lifeless form bloodied and worn out. I tried to pull out a voice from my burning throat, to call upon him as he lay on the dirt, his head tilted to the side, hazy but dignified; dignified but broken. I am still alive. I'm not dead…I….I just can't move. I tried to will my body to move but it was all too much for it to obey. He was looking at me sadly, perhaps even think of me as dead, but I'm alive…I just can't…

Then I saw him, the infamous Missing Nin he was after for the last eight years. I thought he was dead. I saw him die as my Sasuke pierce his heart with his kunai. I saw him fall in a heap to the ground while I finishes off his tall, moldy looking side-kick. It was horrendous but my beloved was so happy, so proud of himself. How did Uchiha, Itachi survived that last blow when Sasuke gave everything he got for that single chance of victory and freedom. Freedom you ask me? Yes, freedom from slavery of dread and pain. We succeeded….at least I thought we did. But here he is, back on his own two feet, bending down on my Uchiha.

I saw him place his chapped lips upon his smooth, luscious ones and I can't help but be angered at his sudden impassive actions. Does he know he's ripping my beloved's soul apart? Does he know how much purity he's stained? I watched him silently as he picked Sasuke up from the ground, leaves and soil clinging on to his battered body. His arms hung limply to his side, his hair damp and soaked in blood. Itachi pushed his back to a tree as he buried his head in the nook of his neck, whispering lies and threats and enticing my beloved to lose his soul to the Devil. I tried to cry out his name, make him stop hurting, but I couldn't move. I am a corpse who lives but is bound to be silenced for eternity.

Sasuke tilted his head to the side, his eyes closed and his teeth biting hard on his pale lower lip. He stood well in level with the devil incarnate himself, but I could sense an aura of trepidation in him. He breathed in deeply, his chest rising and falling between a length of intervals as Itachi provoked him for a fight by running his fingers across his face, his jaw line and his clavicle.

I tried to look away but I was paralyzed, forced to witness how Itachi ravaged my beloved helplessly. I knew Itachi has the knowledge of me being alive, I knew Itachi thought Sasuke knew I am dead…that he killed me. He's crazy. Itachi and his little mind game sickens me. He pulled me in as a player into his game of lies and betrayal, used me as a bait to break Sasuke more. He threw me in a box, trapped me there with an overwhelming intensity that he wants me to break, too. I wonder if Sakura's a part of this game? But I brushed the thought aside and tried to block out my visions of Itachi undressing my beloved, cutting his black shirt into pieces using his kunai; running his fickle tongue on Sasuke's chest and neck and sucking on his throat. Why is he doing this? What have _I _ done?

He continued on teasing him, but Sasuke only kept his eyes close, fighting the urge to yell or to squirm away from his grasp. He felt dejected, he thought he's been defeated. Shut up asshole and do something! I am still alive! Fight the fucking devil and come back to me! But Sasuke wasn't doing anything…even when Itachi had completely stripped him down naked and had pushed him back to the muddy grass. Not even when Itachi grabbed both of his arms and raised it up, pinning his wrist….not even when he stripped his cloths off and entered him forcefully from behind. I couldn't hear if Sasuke cried out, or if he moaned or protested. I just saw him open his eyes in wide shock, saw his dark orbs dart back to where I am, lying on my stomach face down a few yards away from him. He was looking at me intently, two pearl-like tears racing their way from his eyes down his bruised cheeks. His arm lay tightly above him as Itachi thrust in and out of his body. He had been quiet, enduring the shame and pain. Unmindful that Itachi's desecrating him the worst way possible. He broke him by making him believe I was dead, that he killed me. He showed Sasuke he is the superior one by ravaging him. It was all too much. He had taken everything away from my beloved. I want to soothe his pain, but I was immobile, I was dead, remember?

It was a few minutes before Itachi came inside him, lowering his head to gaze on Sasuke's face. He was just staring at me, not speaking, barely breathing…he was far lost in his own misery that it locked him up deep within. Itachi must have been the one proud at this moment. He broke us all in one day. How could I ever forgive him? Sasuke…and Sakura…and me….and Sakura!

In the deepest recesses of my mind, before I blacked out from my injuries, I thought I saw her get up from the ground. I think I tried to warn her…to tell her to run…but I couldn't. I saw Itachi pick himself up from the forest floor and turn to her. But what I dreaded did not come. Instead, Sakura opened her arms willingly to the devil and embraced him…even kissed him savagely on the mouth; her tongue playing swords against him. Then they both turned to me…and I was gone./

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Naruto sat on the bed, his head lightly resting on his knees as he pulled them closer to his chest. He hadn't fallen asleep that night. Sleep, he tried so hard to find but it never came to him in false hope. He would never sleep that night after what he just found out. Sasuke. He knew it. Sasuke's alive. Why did Tsunade hid this from him all these years when she knew he longed for his beloved's return? Naruto lost him that night, in an encounter with Itachi. It was supposed to be a class B mission. Just something not worthy of mentioning where he, Sasuke and Sakura were dispatched. It was in a forest and a one rainy night at that when Itachi and a few of his surviving companions ambushed them. It was horrible at first alright, because they thought he was long dead and buried. Sakura was first to be taken down. Then Itachi came after him while Sasuke tried to fight off the others. It was quite disturbing, the thought though, because Naruto could barely remember it. Itachi came after him but didn't do anything but to scratch him with his nails on his neck, then he fell face first to the dirt. There might have been some splash of poison on the tip of his fingernails that made his heart stop for at least a few minutes, just as to conserve oxygen in his lungs and make him appear dead.

The plan worked out fine. Sasuke came back to check on them and found him lying there without a pulse or any other vital signs. Then Itachi came to attack him, to tell him lies, to tell him Naruto died because of him, when his real intention is to torture them both. Then what followed is how he remembers it.

What followed is how he became somebody different. A man who never smiles. A Nin who kills for nighttime pleasure. Itachi did this to him, though how indirectly. But it all seemed to be a remote remembrance now after he stole two seconds of grace in his beloved's eyes. Sasuke hadn't lost that strange air in him that drew Naruto him on the first place and with that thought, the blond demigod smiled inwardly. Yes, Sasuke still hasn't lost that overpowering finesse he has. It must be inborn with him.

Naruto almost fell off the makeshift bed of the jail cell when a loud echoing noise erupted from the bars a few yards from him. What came next are footsteps walking towards his own block. He squinted his eyes, letting them adjust to see through the dark. When the footsteps halted, it was right in front of his cell door. Naruto looked up and almost uttered a cry of surprise when he saw, standing there in his air of arrogance, his shoulders thrown backwards as if in contempt, Uchiha, Itachi himself.

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"How are you feeling, Sakura?" he asked, his husky voice echoing beyond the mute night. He hovered beside her bed, sparing her a glance or two. She was fast asleep with loud buzzing machines connected to her veins and clamped on her nose and mouth. She barely made it alive.

"You have been a naughty little bitch." he repeated, smiling to himself. He sat down on the edge of the bed, his fingers gently tracing her delicate eyebrows. "A fucking bitch, really." He stooped down and placed a light kiss on her forehead, his palm wiping away her sweat. The moonlight flooded through the room, illuminating his tall figure looming on the bed with his garb and his long midnight hair. He wore his face expressionless, his physique well kept at the age of twenty-eight.

"You almost ruined the plan. You have been stubborn, Haruno. Just like you mother and father before you." He whispered, his palm placed on the null of her neck, caressing them. They were soft, like porcelain.

Easy.

"I told you to keep it a low profile, but you didn't. You fell so damn fucking hard for him, didn't you?" the machines continued beeping…drowning the silence of death himself. The silence that bore its last laugh upon her.

"And what of the little boy, Sakura? I asked you to give him to me, but you didn't. So stubborn." He got up and walked over to the window, letting the wind dance around him. It was too much, but he had to do it for the sake of his plan to work out.

"Izuki's his name, isn't it? My brother's seed. Can you believe that? He would do good as a leverage against him."

Another pause as the silence and the low wheezing converge. An origin point of where all things meet.

"And you were a bad liar. Didn't you know Tsunade's been sending surveillance? How the fuck do you think that bastard Uzumaki found out? And the three Anbu's…they _knew_ you lied. I can't tolerate that, can I?"

The crickets sounded from below.

"They have had suspicions on you. They just couldn't break it out yet. But they will soon." He grinned maliciously.

A howl of a lost wolf was deafening. The forest cries.

"It's time I end this."

In a swift move, he pulled out his kunai and thrust it enthusiastically on her chest, his other palm covering her mouth to suppress any sound. Without another backward look, he leapt out of the window and disappeared through the thick blanket of the night.

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"Y-You killed her?" he stuttered, looking up at the older Uchiha. Itachi nodded, unperturbed. He towered over the cowering figure like a god watching over his subordinates. Transcendent and beyond power…glorified and the strongest.

"I want to play a game with you." He snickered. "Hide and seek. Guess who I'm gonna hide." He added before throwing the key over to the blond. Naruto stared at the glittering metal for the time being, his mind processing what he just heard. A game. Itachi loves games. He pawns upon people, breaks them, tortures them until they're body and flesh no more.

"Don't let me guess." He replied, his hand grabbing the keys. Naruto moved back and hit the wall, his sapphire eyes unmoving and cautious.

"Go back to the beginning. Or he dies." Itachi smiled, his fingers tracing the cold metal of the jail cell.

In a blink, he was gone.

Naruto sat up from his crouching position. He grabbed onto the metals that made up his cell and peered outside, looking for faint traces of Itachi's essence. His heart hammered in his chest as he remembered the Uchiha's words._ Or he dies._

Damn, who does he think he is threatening him this way! Is he going to kill Sasuke? What would he gain from this? Itachi's after Sasuke's state of being, not his! Itachi had already disposed of Sakura…killed her…one thrust and she was gone…freed from the pain of torture….blessed by death….But how could he!

Naruto sat up and fumbled for the keys. He inserted several of them in the lock before he fortunately found the right one that unlocks his. With precision, he slipped out of the cell and crept into the night. Only one man could answer the riddles Uchiha, Itachi has left him. And that's where he's heading…to the manor of the one man who knew not but is filled with contemptible knowledge he had chosen to forget.

He would have to go tell Sasuke. He would have to warn him about the peril that is to come.

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Sasuke sat on the office, his mind reeling to what Izuki had mentioned to him. Sakura forbade his son to speak of a name of a village, in fear he might hear? This is ridiculous! All this mind games and secrets left him no choice but to confront her. He leaned on the chair, his eyes wandering upon the crackling flame in the fireplace…crimson flame…a fatal hue of blood…

He stood up and walked closer to the fireplace, his mind in deep concentration. He must remember something…the answer lies deep within the hollow recesses of his mind. If he could just gather all his strength and remember…

Then it came. The loud ear-splitting scream that broke through the household. Sasuke jolted back to reality and scrambled on his feet. The screams seems to come from upstairs…from Izuki's room!

Shadows seem to lurk everywhere, with the crevices, every nook of the ancient manor. The screams were getting louder and louder every second as he made his way up the winding staircase, his breath ragged. Izuki's voice reverberated through the familiar darkness, cutting through his senses like a jagged edge of a knife…unfeeling and rough. Painful and yet so intensely welcomed.

Sasuke fell on the his knees, his feet getting in tangles with the carpet. He felt the pain as it coursed through his body, but Izuki's cries made him move on. He got up and nearly fell in front of Izuki's door. He managed to hold on to the handle of the door to save himself. But he was too late still…a man stood in the farthest corner of the room, holding on to the child who tries to squirm away from his captor. Sasuke uttered a breath, his eyes deceiving him. Standing there, silhouetted by the moonlight is a man whose face resembles him in the slightest aspect. The man has crimson eyes, the color that reminds him of death, and a sadistic grin as he held on to the child, one hand holding a kunai pointed at the child's throat. Just as Sasuke stood up, fragments of visions coursed through him…that face…that stance…it was all too familiar…as if it had been the very foundation of his soul.

"Hello little brother." The man greeted as he moved sideways, taking the child with him.

"Who…" Sasuke muttered, his body convulsing uncontrollably. He fell back on his knees, his head hurting. "Let my child go."

"This little one?" the man asked, the point of the kunai digging holes into the child's neck. "He looks a lot like you, doesn't he?"

"Stop it!"

"Do you remember me now, little brother?" he hissed slyly.

"Ahh…Poppa help me!" Izuki cried out, his hands outstretch, trying to reach out to his father. Sasuke was immobile, though, the only thing he can do was to stare.

"Silence. I won't hurt you."

"Let Izuki go! You're battle is with me…" Sasuke choked.

"You don't even recognize me." He groaned, smiling wickedly. "Oh, now you are stubborn my beautiful china doll."

"I-I…Itachi…" hot trails of clear liquid fell on the entity's face. Sasuke looked up, his vision blurred, his mind confused by that single name he uttered. Why does he hurt this way? "Itachi. Don't."

"I enjoyed seeing you bleed." Itachi whispered as he pulled the child closer, holding him on the hair. "I want to see you bleed for me."

"Stop it! Stop it! You're driving me insane!" he yelled, his head falling back down on the carpet. His body began convulsing again but he fought against it just to reach out to his son whom Itachi pulled away from him. "Izuki!"

"Poppa! Poppa! He said he killed Momma! Please don't let him kill me!" Izuki cried but the stranger held on tighter to him.

"Shhh…I won't kill you, child. We'll just play a little game, that's all." Itachi bent down and gave the child a quick kiss on the head. "Let's see how brave my little brother is. Let's see if I've finally taught him how be strong. Come with me."

"Itachi, let him go!" Sasuke yelled back…unable to move. "It's me you want right! Take me instead! He's just a child."

His brother grinned back at him maliciously. "Then the more the fun, right?" With one forceful swing, he threw himself out of the window, taking the young boy with him. And it was all that Sasuke saw, before everything around him fell victim to the void that sucked the life from within.

**End of Fifth Chapter!**

**Notes:** I know this is boring. Short and boring. I did not even bother to re-read it because it's boring. The next chapter is way better though, I promise! And the plot is obvious by then!

Please review guys, I need motivation. It's school time again and I need more of it! Please continue supporting this fic! I love you all! I'll revise as soon as I get the chance!


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